The Beer Justice

London Beer - A Tipping Point

2011-12-02T10:02:00.012Z

The London beer scene reached a tipping point last night as pretty much every award at the British Guild of Beer Writers dinner was scooped by a London based journalist or beer writer.

After a marvellous beer matched dinner the evening started its nod towards the Capital when it was announced that Evin O'Riordain from Kernel Brewery was named the Beer Writers, Brewer of the Year. Evin launched his brewery in the railway arches of Bermondsey about two years ago and has never looked back, picking up award after award. His bottled IPAs, stouts and porters are unbeatable and the recognition is well deserved.

A few moments later, as Des de Moor picked up the next award for his London's Best Beer, Pubs and Bars Guide, it was becoming clear that it was going to be a night for London and I was on my feet leading a chorus of "maybe it's because I'm a Londoner !"
Those around me might say I was not leading a chorus, merely shouting incoherently like a drunk on the tube. I couldn't comment. Suffice to say my delight was becoming boisterous

There quickly followed prizes for Mark Dredge for his work on beer and food, the corporate communications award went to honorary cockney, Pete Brown, Mark Charlwood (sp ?) won silver in the on-line category for his beerbirrabier blog and the gold was scooped by Martyn Cornell, London's eminent beer historian. Glynn Davis won an award for trade press and the Beer Writer of the Year was once again, Ben McFarland.

A clean sweep for London !

(Not quite true as Marverine Cole took a gong for regional work and Adrian Tierney Jones took a prize for his work on national newspaper reviews. I hope they will both allow me to gloss over their achievements as I relish the fact that London is back.)

Only a couple of years ago, the London beer scene was on its knees. Our breweries were closing, flats were replacing pubs and cities like Derby and Sheffield were leading the vanguard of the microbrewery and craft beer scene. Beer lovers in London were forlorn and the rest of the nation was puzzled as we took comfort in championing each new micro that opened. Every one was a winner, Sambrook's, Redemption, Kernel, Camden Town et al. Every one well received.

A few pubs started changing, Cask, Craft, Rake, Southampton, Butcher. I don't have to name them all. Each and every one becoming a destination boozer.

My latest list of London brewpubs, micros, craft and family brewers now numbers 28 operating or coming very soon.

The London beer scene is back and vibrant and I am chuffed as punch !

(Apologies if I have any of the names or awards incorrect, or if I have missed anybody. My delight for London was only matched by my love for the great beers provided by the sponsors, Molson Coors, Fullers, Adnams, Brains, Thwaites, Shepherd Neame and Budweiser. My recollection and random notes are not 100% clear)

Thanks also to Black Sheep Brewery who invited me to the event as their guest and for their warming Black Sheep Imperial Russian Stout which was supposed to be taken home but never got beyond the coffee - delicious.

Christmas Star Award - Ales by Mail

2011-11-29T09:25:00.006Z

I have been asked by the senior elf at Ales by Mail to give a shout out for their latest imaginative way to put something back in at this busiest time of the year :

Nominate your Christmas Star

As 2011 will soon be drawing to a close, Ales By Mail would like to take this opportunity to recognise that a lot of people have had a hard year - be it from unemployment, financial problems, sickness and so on.

Despite this however, the people of the UK shine through, volunteering for charities, working hard to support their families well, or maybe just being there for a friend in need.

We'd like to hear your stories about people who've done something this year that deserves a special treat (it will be ale, naturally, so no under 18's please!

Visit www.alesbymail.com/stars and fill in the form with details of your nominee.

You can nominate anyone you like (except yourself!), a friend, relative, co-worker, or anyone you think deserves a surprise, and would appreciate real ale of course.

If your nominee is chosen, we'll get in touch with you for delivery details of your nominee, and a surprise package will make its way direct to them in time for Christmas!

Nominate your Christmas Star now! www.alesbymail.com/stars

Foraging with a Badger

2011-11-16T11:30:00.003Z

When you're a delinquent blogger who hasn't posted for weeks there is always something nagging your conscience to make sure the blog is not consigned to history -be it a great day out, a memorable beer or a new book to tell people about.

As long ago as the middle of September I was invited for a day of foraging with the lovely folk at Hall and Woodhouse Brewery. I was unsure what relevance this had to beer and as it turned out very little but a good time was had by all.

Here are some of the things I learnt on that day :

The day began at Weymouth, Chesil Beach with a glass of Forager's Nip and a chocolate brownie made with Badger, Poacher's Choice beer. A heady start to a the day.

{Forager's Nip : fill a jar with blackberries, top up to half way with sugar, fill with whisky, shake once a day for a week, store in a dark place for a year. Simples !}

Armed with a pair of scissors and a tub of salt you can gather a feast by the seashore.

It pays to be with an expert and we were accompanied by John Wright who is the country's leading authority on wild food.

Check out his book, Edible Seashore, which is part of the River Cottage Handbook series - a practical guide to foraging for the rich pickings to be found on Britain's seashore.

After a morning gathering Marsh Samphire, Wild Thyme, Sea Beet and Wormwood it was time for lunch.

On the strength this quick lunch the food at the Crab House Cafe now has my hearty approval and a mental note is made to revisit sometime.

Badger England's Own with its white grape and elderflower flavors was a delicious accompaniment to the meal - going especially well with a fresh raw oyster farmed on-site.

Included for aesthetic purposes only. You can take the boy out of West London .....

To forage for razor clams visit the tidal waters as the tide is coming in, look for two small holes in the sand, pour in some table salt and the clam will poke his head up.

Grab the head, hold and he will release himself from the sand.

Put him in your pot for your feast later.

If you rely on your foraging efforts for sustenance you are going to be hungry.

Even the lone crab found in the pots that John had previously set in the waters did not really make a meal for eight though it was great fun getting the stove out and cooking it all up on the beach. No beer to go with it unfortunately (#PRfail)

This proved to be a good starter before the delicious meal that had been laid on at our hotel The Bull in Bridport - again this place has my recommendation and I hope to revisit sometime.

Copious amounts of Badger beers in the splendid company of Mark Woodhouse and his brewing team made a perfect end to the day.

Now, here's some of the really important stuff I discovered on the day :

Hall & Woodhouse have just invested almost £5 million in a new brewery, largely funded by the sale of some land to the side of a pub in Horsham. The brewery is just about finished and will be brewing the range of badger beers imminently. A significant once-in-a-lifetime investment and demonstrable proof of a family's continued commitment to the UK brewing industry.

I am often confused by the range of Badger beers so now I have an aide-memoir. Here is yours :

First Gold (best bitter, malty, orange and spicy)
Tanglefoot (stronger with hints of melon and pear character)
Fursty Ferret (tawny, amber ale with delicate hop)
England's Own (white grape and elderflower)
Golden Glory (peach and melon)
Golden Champion (hint of elderflower)
Hopping Hare (refreshing, hoppy and well balanced)
Blandford Flyer (ginger)
Poacher's Choice (dark with licorice and damson)

Thanks to James Peat for the photography.

Thanks to all at Badger for their hospitality.

London Beers come to Egham

2011-11-01T08:30:00.003Z

I received a polite bollocking recently from Bob (the Binman) Inman, one of the organisers of the Egham United Services Club Beer Festival because I had failed to give a shout-out for their last beer festival in the Summer.

The truth was that I generally don't publicise an event if I am not planning to attend. Apart from a jam packed diary that week, personally I had also found the beer list a little too focused on new breweries and pandering to the beer ticker community who love finding beers from new breweries.

Now I have nothing against the beer ticker, honestly some of my best friends tick beers, it's just that I find, with a handful of notable exceptions, that new breweries take a while to bed-in and I generally prefer beers from the tried and tested.

Fresh out of their Brewlab courses and after the stresses and strains of actually getting the brewery commissioned, it takes a few recipes, a lot of customer and pub feedback, practice with the equipment, and choices of ingredients before the beer really hits the spot. Some of the brewed-on-a-farm-in-a-bucket brigade never get there but most new brewers will quickly be brewing some good tasty distinctive beers.

I have just taken a look at the list for this week's event and confirm that I am on the case and am keen to recommend a visit to others. Two of my favourite breweries appear again. There are Five beers from Ascot Ales including two from their 8% Last of the Blue Devils range - a cassis and an aniseed. Two special beers appear from Windsor & Eton, a version of the Conqueror dark IPA, this one with added Whiskey plus the very last cask of the special 7.5% version of the same beer. I am not going to miss these.

However, the main reason for attending, and notwithstanding my comments above, is to try again the range of beers from many of London's newest breweries.

Research, research, research !

The bars will have the very newest London beers, from The Botanist brewpub on Kew Green (7 beers), By the Horns Brewery in Wimbledon (3), Camden Town's latest offerings (2), beer from East London Brewing (1), London Fields Brewery (2), Moncada Brewery (3) and Redchurch (1). All this plus the London Brewers Alliance collaboration IPA the brewing of which I was lucky enough to take part in.

Finally, and probably the most important reason to attend any event, Bob has reminded me with this photo record that I have a great time every time I visit Egham Club beer festivals.

A warm welcome, fantastic hospitality and great beers. What more do you want on an unseasonably warm November eve.

The festival happens from 3rd to 6th from 11am daily. More info here.

See you there !

Fuller's Vintage Ale - Vertical Tasting

2011-10-11T11:48:00.001+01:00

There is plenty that I should be blogging about from recent beer drinking ahead of last night's event but I have to get this written down while it is fresh in my memory.

A memorable evening spent in the company of the great and the good of the beer world, hosted by Fuller's senior executives in their Hock Cellar at the brewery, tasting all fifteen of the Vintage Ales from 1997 to the newly released 2011.

This will be the last time that all Vintages are tasted in one sitting, partly because 15 beers (of 8.5%) in one evening is a stretch for most people but also some of the older Vintages are becoming really scarce. There are only forty bottles left of the 1998. It does not appear in my collection so if you have a bottle left you have a real collectors item.

My beer cupboard : I know what I like ! (Missing 1998, 2001 and 2002)
The scarce 1998 now has a savoury character with notes of chocolate and liqueur. it is very smooth with hint of calvados. This was the 14th beer we tasted and my notes are less coherent => "still really good" says it all for me.

My favourite was the 2008 : less oxidised notes, a hint of cherry aroma, slightly more carbonated, still some fresh orange character and a really lovely smooth mouthful.

It was a hard evening. Everyone seemed to have a different favourite but the consensus is that this is a beer that ages very well, from six months to fifteen years there is a a full range of flavour profiles and different ageing characteristics.

Across the piece, each beer was identifiable as a Fuller's Vintage, largely due to the Fuller's yeast bringing its orange marmalade flavours to each beer. The ageing process brought something special to each beer. It is clear that ageing is not a linear process, peaking and then deteriorating; ageing changes the beers in a variable cycle over time. A beer that perhaps is a bit dull after say seven of eight years, can smooth out over the next two or three bringing back a sweetness and fruitiness that is part of the chemical change brought on by time alone. It was interesting to note that each beer still has a viable yeast count and a spritzy carbonation dispelling the myth that the yeast quickly dies in a bottle conditioned beer.

It was enlightening to hear beer discussed in the same serious way that is evident at a vertical vintage wine tasting. This is one of the world's greatest beers and deserves its place at the top table being honoured and revered by beer lovers worldwide.

Fuller's Vintage is brewed each year using the finest ingredients from that vintage. It is based on the recipe for Golden Pride but is bottle conditioned in a numbered limited edition. Once in the bottle the flavours continue to develop over time. Many vintages are always available at the Fuller's Brewery shop and the current edition is usually on the shelf at Waitrose at around £3.50 a bottle. (Approx 50% is sold during each year and the remaining 50% bought in future year by collectors and enthusiasts).

I must give a big thank you to Fuller's for their hospitality. The philosophy, standards and values of the company were at their most evident last night and fully deserve to be shouted about.

Finally in the interest of open disclosure, I am now CAMRA's Brewery Liaison Officer for Fuller's Brewery. It is no secret that I am a fan of Fuller's beers, being the nearest brewery to my home. Don't therefore be surprised to read more about them here in future.

New beer videos - Carlsberg & CAMRA

2011-09-28T10:35:00.008+01:00

I came across two new beer videos this week. Both are really good and worthy of your attention.

Firstly a new take on the "angry Hitler" video, this one is "angry CAMRA". First saw this on Reluctant Scooper blog so the link is to Simon Johnson's site : www.reluctantscooper.co.uk

The only thing missing here is "and they only joined because we gave them Wetherspoon vouchers !"

Secondly this new Carlsberg advert has had over 2.5 million views in 5 days. It is viral marketing at its very, very best :

Art By Offenders - Koestler Trust

2011-09-21T08:30:00.001+01:00

Spoiler Alert : Not beer related

Earlier in the summer, I was chosen as one of the JP volunteer curators of this year's Koestler Trust annual exhibition showcasing Art by Offenders.

Each year the Koestler Trust hosts an awards competition of visual arts, film, music and writing by prisoners and others in secure settings.

This year the competition attracted entries from UK prisons, secure hospitals, immigration detention centres, youth offending services, probation and British prisoners serving overseas. The total entry was over 7,000 pieces.

My part in the process was to spend three weeks selecting about 150 pieces worthy of display from a total entry of visual arts of about 5,000. It was a real test of group decision making and selection by committee but I am really proud of the end result which is now available for all to see.

The exhibition opens today at 1pm (21 September) in the basement space (Spirit Level) of the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank, SE1 8XX. It is free to get in and runs until 20 November. Opening hours are 10am to 10pm. More details at www.KoestlerTrust.org.uk

Please drop in for a few minutes if you are passing through Central London or make a special visit. I know I am a bit biased but I guarantee you will be glad that you did.

If anyone would like me to join their visit to give a curator's perspective, let me know. I would be glad to come if my diary is free - daytime or evenings.

Finally, I can't resist putting a beer spin on this : Meantime bottles are available at the Royal Festival Hall bars and the Harp, CAMRA's national pub of the year is about a fifteen minute walk across the river. There is also a pretty good pub walk to be done nowadays along the Strand.

National Honey Show - Beer Category - Call for Entries

2011-09-20T09:50:00.000+01:00

The National Honey Show will again be held at St George's College, Weybridge on 27th-29th October. There are over two hundred judging categories in the show from Jars of Honey (2) to Beeswax Candles (3) to Mead (Dry) and Honey Fruit Cake.

For the last two years I have been one of the judges in the Honey Beer category and my reason for this post is to invite more brewers (and now home brewers) to consider entering the competition. Each year the competition has attracted between six and eight entries, so there is an excellent chance of scooping the Leslie Thorne Trophy.

The only criteria for entry to the beer category (class 41) is that the beer shall be commercially available and honey must be an ingredient. The entry is 3 bottles or cans and the fee is £20.

This year there is a new class for home and non-commercial brewers (class 42), Honey beer, any style, 2 bottles, minimum 330ml, not commercially available. Honey must be an ingredient. Entry fee is 50p.

The committee at the National Honey show are all lovely people, as passionate about beekeeping as we are about beer. They would be delighted to increase the number of entries to further justify their inclusion of a (honey) beer category.

My fellow judges, John Porter (left) and Tim Hampson (right) will also be delighted if the number of beers to taste increases !

Melissa Cole is the fourth judge which is rather apt as Mel is the latin word for honey.

For further details, entry forms and details of logistics of entering the competition, please contact John Hendrie, the entries secretary at http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/contact_entries_secretary.shtml

Red Lion, Barnes - Beer Dinner

2011-09-13T08:30:00.000+01:00

This evening looks like it will be a lot of fun with our favourite beer-world double act.

The Red Lion is a traditional Fullers pub in Barnes, SW13 with a great reputation for both beer and food.

I can't miss this and my tickets are already secured.

There is likely to be strong demand, so I suggest you reserve tickets soon if you wish to come along.

The Red Lion is on the bus route between Barnes and Hammersmith so both those stations are easily accessible. I'm going to walk !

From the press release :

Two local beer experts will be going head to head at The Red Lion in Barnes to persuade foodie customers who is the best beer matcher of them all.

Leading beer writer Melissa Cole and Chiswick brewery Fuller’s Head Brewer John Keeling have been challenged by The Red Lion’s managers Angus Mckean & Claire Morgan to match beers to a specially created menu. Both choices will then be served on the night with customers voting on their favourite match. Neither John nor Melissa will be aware of the other’s choices.

The ‘Battle of the Sexes’ event, designed provocatively to ‘find out who has the most taste – men or women’ will take place on Friday October 14th.

Angus said: “I know Melissa and John often have heated discussions about beer – how to describe the flavours, what tastes best with what – so I decided it was time to really put them to the test. I have no doubt our customers will get to try some amazing beer and food combinations – and they can watch the fireworks while they eat!”

Angus and Melissa have put together a mouth-watering (and belt-busting) six course menu including oysters steeped in Belgian lambic beer (made with wild yeasts), sweet potato and yam baskets with slow roast pork belly in plum sauce and pear tarte tatin with homemade Fuller’s Past Masters Double Stout ice cream. You’ll have to buy a ticket to find out the beer matches suggested by John and Melissa.

Head Brewer John Keeling said: “Beer is often overlooked as a match with food, but actually it often works better with many dishes than wine. And with finely crafted beers available from both the UK and abroad, now is the time to experiment. Forget about malbecs and muscadets, and try some porter and pale ales!”

Tickets to the event on October 14th are available from The Red Lion Barnes at £25 per head. Please call Angus on 020 8748 2984 or email redlionbarnes@fullers.co.uk

A Visit to Sharp's

2011-09-12T09:30:00.001+01:00

Last week I was lucky enough to be asked to join a media trip to Sharp's Brewery in North Cornwall, the home of Doom Bar, to see the progress and ambitions since the company was taken over by Molson Coors for c£20m some seven months ago.

Here are some of the things I discovered :

Pasties taste best in Cornwall - especially after a seven hour journey.

The takeover of Sharp's by Molson Coors (MC) is a "marriage of two businesses with similar values".

Beer volumes are growing. Projected production in the coming year is > 120,000 barrels - of which only 3,000 is in bottle. More than 90% of this is Doom Bar.

Only 18% of regular cask ale drinkers drink solely cask ale.

MC are investing £5.7 million in Sharp's over the next 2.5 years.

Most of this investment is in Rock, Cornwall

Rock, Cornwall is in the back of beyond, on the north Cornwall coast, across the bay from Padstow and a half hour taxi ride from Bodmin station.

There is no suggestion in even the longer 10 year business plans that brewing will move away from Rock.

Sharp's use more whole hops than any other UK brewery.

Doom Bar is the third best selling cask ale in London, the top in the south West and fifth nationwide : after GK IPA, London Pride, Deuchars IPA and GK Abbot.

The investment over the next two years will support growth of Doom Bar outside its heartlands of London and the South West.

MC are supporting the brewer, Stuart Howe's passion for niche beers and will be launching a Connoisseurs Range in the near future

52 % of cask ale drinkers drink wine as preference at home.

Doom bar is sold in 3,200 pubs.

Cask ale drinkers are the most promiscuous.

Doom Bar is "gloriously mainstream"

55% of people cannot detect lightstruck flavours that will often come from beer in clear bottles, 35% actually prefer the light struck flavours. (See also Shepherd Neame, Badger and the iconic Newcastle Brown).

The clear bottle is modern and contemporary and supports the brand image.

Lager drinkers prefer clear bottles. (See also Corona and Sol).

Brewers prefer beer in brown bottles.

People mature to cask ale at an average age of 45 but usually convert from other beers and have come to the beer category at 18-24 remaining loyal. There are now a huge number of 18-24s who are missing the beer category completely due to the growth in cider and spirits. They are much harder to get back.

The beer category includes Carling, MC's major UK brand. The implication being that MC are massive supporters of "beer".

Stuart Howe's trial brew plant is 60 litres NOT 60 barrels as his tongue slipped(and probably wished for).

The takeover has meant that he is now head brewer in a brewery investing for future growth rather than a brewery being fattened up for sale.

Sharp's are now the sole user of the Morrell's Brewery (Oxford) yeast strain

Part of Doom Bar's success is the fact that it is easy for licensees to condition. The beer has a low yeast concentration, 4m cells per mil in conditioning tank, 1m cells per mil in cask. This means most of the conditioning is done in the brewery and the beer drops bright, ready for the customer, within 12 hours of reaching the pub.

No maize, rice or sugar is used in the brewing process.

That was the more formal stuff. We were then treated to a swift brewery tour after which the beers started to be poured. This is where it all started to get a bit messy.

More tomorrow.

Making CAMRA Better

2011-09-02T09:55:00.004+01:00

In haste, my first attempt at mobile blogging, shamelessly cut and paste from an email. A test really. Better something than nothing. Your chance to influence CAMRA policies

Steve

Dear CAMRA Member,

As you may be aware, Greater London members of CAMRA have the opportunity
to collectively influence the future of the Campaign at a national level.
London Branches are hosting a conference on Saturday, 3 September 2011, to
hear members' views and to formulate recommendations to the Campaign's
National Executive. The conference theme is 'making CAMRA better'. The
venue is Questors Theatre in Ealing, who's Grapevine Bar was recently
chosen by a panel of judges as Regional Club of the Year for Greater London
because of its excellent ales, support of CAMRA's aims and superb value for
money.

The National Executive plan to review the strategic plan for the Campaign
later this autumn. They will consider the recommendations of the 'Fitness
for Purpose' review that was mandated at their AGM in 2010 and presented to
the membership at the 2011 Members’ weekend earlier this year. Their
focus will be on prioritising a few achievable campaigning goals each year
and increasing the involvement of grassroots members in strategic planning.
The text of the full report is available on the CAMRA website.

The day's programme will permit conference delegates to take part in
in-depth discussions of the major challenges and issues that CAMRA is
facing.

The threat to pubs - What are the social and economic factors that are
making it difficult for pubs to remain open. What, if anything, can CAMRA
do about it?

Responsible drinking. Are the anti-alcohol lobbies hijacking the moral
high ground? CAMRA believe that the pub is the heart of responsible
drinking. What can we do to dissociate ourselves from those who demonise
beer drinkers and pub-goers?

Taxation on beer is spiraling out of control. How can this be organised to
redress the balance between the pub and the supermarkets.

Advertising - is the customer being mislead by the mass media to the
detriment of cask-conditioned ale? Is customer choice being reduced?

Craft beer - What is it? Should CAMRA re-write its definition of real ale
to accommodate lovingly crafted neo-fizz?

Campaigning aspirations and audiences - are we preaching to the converted?

The London Branches are excited about this event and want to make the
conference a success. All London members are encouraged to attend and
contribute their views. Our collective views will help steer CAMRA into the
future!

Questors Theatre is a short walk from Ealing Broadway Station. There is no
charge for admission. A selection of locally-produced cask-conditioned ales
and real ciders will be available in the Grapevine Bar at attractive
prices. Lunch will also be on sale. The bar is open well into the evening.
The premises are fully accessible for wheelchair users.

Please register at Gtrlondon@westlondon-camra.org.uk. Non-members are
invited to participate by joining CAMRA on the day.

I look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Kind regards
Kimberly Martin
CAMRA Regional Director for Greater London

Brainwave Charity Beer Tasting 2011

2011-08-26T09:50:00.013+01:00

As soon as I plugged this event last year, the tickets sold out (not due to my publicity, I hasten to add). A great time was had by all and a significant amount of money raised for the charity.

I am therefore please to advertise the 2011 event as follows :

The children’s charity, Brainwave, is arranging another exclusive beer tasting at the Farmers’ Club on 19 October, where guests can find out a little more about the complex world of beer, where the flavours come from and a little on the history of beer.

So not only can you have an entertaining and different evening and help a charity too.

The event is being held at the Farmers' Club in Central London at 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL; nearest tube: Embankment.

The tasting is being hosted by Christine Cryne, who chaired CAMRA’s 2011 Champion Beer of Britain and is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers. (Christine also happens to be the charity's Chief Executive).

Tickets are £35, including a buffet. The doors open from 6.30 pm with the tasting starting at 7pm. The event is being supported by Wells & Youngs beers.

Tickets are available from Megan Owen: meganowen@brainwave.org.uk; 07872 548 450

Learn more about this charity at http://www.brainwave.org.uk/

Follow them on Twitter @brainwavecentre

Also take a look also at their YouTube channel at http://uk.youtube.com/BrainwaveCentre

I guess this is more of a general interest beer event rather than a tasting for the hard-core beer-geek.

If you belong to the latter crowd, why not just bung them the price of a pint here.

Wychwood Ginger Beard

2011-08-19T09:59:00.014+01:00

During GBBF week, I arrived home to find a small parcel sent by the kind people at Marston's. It included a bottle of their latest beer, Wychwood Ginger Beard, a bar of chocolate and a pack of stilton with apricots, all boxed in a wicker basket. A nice gift and perfect choices to match with the beer.

Unfortunately, as soon as the pack was opened the chocolate was gone. I am a bit of a chocoholic and had enjoyed the 100g M&S Dark Peruvian Chocolate before I could even get the cap off the bottle of beer.

(Memo to PR teams, if you send me chocolate with beer, send extra chocolate).

Feeling a bit guilty about this, I thought I should try to do the cheese more justice. It was a shame that the cheese had been spoiled slightly by the warm weather (and the fact that I didn't open the pack until overnight after a long GBBF session) so I dug out Sue Nowak's Beer Cook Book to chase down a suitable recipe. Portered Stilton leapt from the index, a slant on Potted Stilton where leftover cheese is traditionally mixed with leftover port to spice up an apres-repas (is that a word ?)

Here's a precis of the recipe :

8oz mature blue stilton
1oz tiny chestnut mushrooms, sliced thinly
1oz walnuts, chopped
2oz butter (unsalted)
2 tablespoons of porter

Roughly grate stilton into a bowl, add the walnuts. Saute the mushrooms with half the butter, add to the bowl. Slowly add the beer and stir until softened. Pack firmly in a heavy pot, seal with the remaining melted butter and refrigerate.

OK, so I used stilton with apricots instead of blue; chopped the cheese and used normal mushrooms; used pecans instead of walnuts, marg instead of butter and vitally Wychwood Ginger Beard instead of Porter - but it was still a culinary victory for someone like me who doesn't pick up a pan from one month to the next.

Having only used a little of the beer in the recipe, I was able to serve the rest of the bottle at the table in small glasses to accompany the cheese dish.

The beer, as you might guess, is infused with fiery root ginger which perfectly complimented the cheesy paste. The spicy finish livening up the creamy, fruity and earthy flavours of the apricot stilton and the mushroom. The theatre of presenting the beer to accompany the dish gave me much kudos among our guests.

The beer itself is a 4.2% amber coloured, ginger'd beer rather than an alcoholic soft drink. It is clean tasting, fresh and refreshing. It is packed with ginger taste. This is not a subtle beer; if you love ginger, you'll love it.

I can't say that this would ever be my favourite beer but it has brought me back to the kitchen and given me enthusiasm to do more cooking with beer, so that's no bad thing.

It has not given me any desire to grow a ginger beard !

Call Yourself a Beer Blogger ?

2011-08-18T09:54:00.009+01:00

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then is's a duck. But if it doesn't keep its blog up to date with regular postings, then it's not a blogging duck.

One blog post in nearly two months is inexcusable. Admittedly, I was otherwise engaged for about three of those weeks doing a prison art project (of which you will hear a lot more from me - even if it does not include beer) but the lack of up-to-date content here recently really is a poor show.

My notebook of ideas is full, my camera is loaded, plenty of people have sent me beer and books to write about and I have lot's of diary dates to share. Now, I just need to get my finger out and try to remember the password into the blog (if you are reading this, it's clear that my memory was good).

If I took one message away from the Beer Bloggers Conference about good blogging, it was that it is vital to have a regular stream of postings. People won't visit your blog if there's nothing new to read, though it's encouraging how many of you have dropped by regularly in the last month to read and re-read about Barnard's travels.

Well, here goes. I can't guarantee that the musings here in future will inform, educate, entertain, expose, campaign, stimulate, champion, story-tell, describe or evangelise, but I am going to try my hardest to make sure there is something new to read.

Stay tuned !

Barnard's Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland

2011-07-12T08:30:00.000+01:00

Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland is a four volume, 2,183 page, work written by Alfred Barnard towards the end of the nineteenth century.

It is a personal account by Barnard of his visits to a wide range of Victorian breweries giving detailed accounts of the premises, plant and product range at a time when the industry was booming.

Given its importance as a beer related historical reference, I am slightly ashamed to say that it has only hit my attention in recent weeks. Firstly at the (now legendary) Beer Bloggers Conference, when it was discussed at a time when a talk on the future of beer writing seemed to get a bit bogged down in the history of beer writing.

A week or two later, the Brewery History Society Journal hit the doormat and the first paper was entitled A personal consideration of Alfred Barnard's Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland and aspects of its relationship to the late Victorian brewing industry written by Paul Bayley.

A little dry you may think but by the end of the 40 odd pages, I was hooked and keen to get my hands on a copy. That is until I learnt on the last page that copies were now changing hands for about £1,000 !

All is not lost though, there is a CD ROM copy available for about £30.

Excellent I thought and set about googling to find a copy.

Even better news, and the real reason for this blog post, is that I have found a free download of all four volumes.

It is included in the Ask About Ireland digital book collection at www.askaboutireland.ie

I can't really do it justice here; suffice to say that even though there is a body of evidence to suggest that the breweries paid fees to be visited by Barnard, this is a very readable collection of beer and brewery travels, has fabulous illustrations for its time and is well worth getting a copy of.

I downloaded it to my IPad and now have it in my electronic book collection, available in seconds with a swipe of the finger. I guess it would also work just as well as a normal PC PDF download.

Never let it be said that I don't bring you value. £1,000 worth of beer history, at your fingertips, thanks to the digital age.

Finally, I am never slow to say that the £18 annual subscription to the Brewery History Society remains excellent value and is recommended.

The Thinking Drinker’s Guide to Alcohol @ Edinburgh Fringe

2011-06-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

This year's Edinburgh Fringe will have representation from two of our friends in the beer world. Ben McFarland (left) and Tom Sandham, hosts of the Dwink.com website and legendary beer writers are dipping their toes into "stand-up".

The show runs at the Pleasance Hut from 4th to 29th August and is called The Thinking Drinker's Guide to Alcohol.

The boys decided to go before even thinking about content but soon realised that the only thing they really know anything about is alcohol, so the show is described as a ‘rip-roaring yarn’ that will take the audience on a ride through the history and culture of alcohol.

Not very interesting you may think, and not exactly Al Murray's Pub Landlord, but what makes this show so special is the offer of free liquor - six times over the duration of the hour long show.

This could turn messy and I wish the boys all the very best (break a leg ?).

If you are in or around Edinburgh during August, check it out, it looks like it's going to be fun.

The Thinking Drinker’s Guide to Alcohol, the Fringe’s only intellectual and interactive elbow-bending event, will champion alcohol and reveal how it has played a role in love, literature and learning since the dawn of time. And some would say, even before that. Long before it helped us lose our mobile phones, alcohol has been oiling the wheels of civilisation and invigorating the minds of history’s greatest heroes – from Jesus Christ and Vincent Van Gogh to Ernest Hemingway and Winston Churchill. Even Boris Yeltsin. And through our show we’ll stimulate both the mind and the mouth and prove that in actual fact, contrary to received wisdom, answers to a lot of life’s most searching questions can be discovered at the bottom of a glass.

More details at Dwink.com

And ticket information at Edfringe.com

Beer Bloggers Conference - Fullers

2011-06-28T13:45:00.000+01:00

The Sunday afternoon session of the Beer Bloggers Conference saw the delegates hot-footing it down the river to Fullers Brewery in Chiswick for a session on "The Effect of Ingredients on Beer" presented by master brewer, Derek Prentice.

Preceded with a tour of the brewery and followed by the best Sunday lunch you will ever have, Derek's talk and beer tasting included many beers from Fuller’s aged selection including Vintage Ales, Past Masters, and Brewers Reserves.

Thanks must go to Fullers for a marvellous end to a splendid weekend.

Beer Bloggers Conference - Wells & Youngs

2011-06-28T12:02:00.009+01:00

The third of the main sponsors of the Beer Bloggers Conference were Wells & Youngs who hosted the Saturday evening dinner at Dirty Dicks pub near Liverpool Street.

An excellent evening in the company of Paul Wells (chairman), Nigel McNally (MD) and Jim Robertson (Brewer) ably supported by the Dwink.com duo of Tom Sandham and Ben McFarland made for an entertaining evening. Bombardier (Bang On !), London Gold, Directors Bitter and Chocolate Stout made sure we did not go thirsty.

The evening was to further celebrate the launch of the latest advertising campaign for Bombardier - Bang On with Rik Mayall as the central character.

The thirty second advert shown on TV is a considerably watered down version to satisfy the advertising standards.

The two minute on-line edit and the three minute Director's Cut versions are filthy, crass, lewd, packed with sexual innuendo, demeaning to women, patronising to the beer drinker, dated, wrongly suggest beer gives you strength and makes you irresistible to women .....

Oops nearly got carried away there......

...they are also entertaining, funny, and the perfect antidote to some of the "pipe and slippers" style of beer advertising such as the James May London Pride Campaign.

Take it as you see it.

I say "Bang On, Bombardier !"

Those who take offence easily look away now :

Though I have to say even I am slightly troubled by the line "about time someone gave Boney a damn good licking"

Beer Bloggers Conference - Molson Coors

2011-06-28T10:21:00.012+01:00

The main sponsor of the Beer Bloggers Conference was Molson Coors, the global brewer most famous in the UK for Carling.

Kristy McCready is their head of communications in the UK and has been hooked into the secret world of beer bloggers and tweeters for a couple of years. She was quick to see the value of the event and was first to commit to supporting the conference by sponsoring the venue costs and the opening night dinner.

I think we first met at a tweetup in Sheffield early last year when she first scolded me for calling Carling - "Black Label" - a moniker that has not been used since 1997. Although I don't remember "Hey Mabel, Black Label", I am from a generation that remembers and still uses the catch phrase: "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label"

It is a tough gig trying to champion what you might call "cooking lager" to the bloggerati. Carling sells over 4 billion pints in the UK alone (yes, billion) so I leave you to you mull over the rights and wrongs of dissing such a product.

Their mission is to help people drink and appreciate beer ahead of wines and spirits and that is a bandwagon we should all climb aboard.

It would have been nice to serve Carling at the opening dinner but Steve Wellington from the Worthington microbrewery and Stuart Howe from Sharps, the latest addition to MC stable, were not going to allow that to happen and we were refreshed with a variety of their excellent beers served with the fine dinner.

The Beer Bloggers Conference would not have made such a mark without the help of Molson Coors and I raise a glass (of Carling ?) in their direction.

Beer Bloggers Conference - Pilsner Urquell

2011-06-28T09:39:00.006+01:00

The Beer Bloggers Conference was over a month ago and plenty of blog posts were written around that time to share the delights of the event. In truth though, it was really one of those times when you had to be there; no amount of blog posts or twitter tweets can truly describe enough how good this weekend was.

However, in hindsight, it would be wrong of me not to give a nod towards some of the sponsors who so richly supported the conference.

One of my favourite sessions was the Pilsner Urqull cocktail party launching their latest advert. The accompanying fresh unfiltered and unpasteurised beer from wooden casks was a welcome conclusion to the first of three long days of beer geekery.

In the light of some of the other beer adverts around lately, I think this is rather classy.

If you are interested in the art or animation of such a project, check out the behind the scenes video that is prompted at the end of the advert.

If you missed the conference, make sure you get aboard next year. If you don't write a blog or tweet about beer, then I suggest you start pdq. Honestly, this event was that good.

New Brewery for Badger

2011-06-07T09:00:00.001+01:00

How long does it take to build a brewery ? Enough time to forget it is happening.

The new brewery development by Hall & Woodhouse in Blandford Forum, Dorset was announced some time ago but it is only now that the project is nearing completion that it becomes more real and visible to the beer drinker.

The 37 week build project will be completed at the end of August, with commissioning and trial brews set for September and the new brew-house completely up-and-running from October.

It is no small beer that Hall & Woodhouse are investing £5 million in their new brewery project when others among the family brewers have packed up their kit and cleared off to the golf course by selling out and closing.

Hall & Woodhouse are investing in their future, the future of British brewing, perpetuating their family's history and supporting their local community.

Mark Woodhouse, the company vice-chairman said "Hall & Woodhouse has been brewing Badger ales for over 225 years and this development means we will be doing so for many more generations to come. An investment of this magnitude demonstrates our ongoing commitment to brewing in Blandford and to the continued growth of our premium bottled and cask ales. It also ensures that we continue brewing the high quality and innovative flavoured ales for which we have such an enviable reputation. We are very grateful for the constructive support that we are receiving from North Dorset District Council for our exciting new brewery development.”

This is an investment that should be shouted from the roof-tops - the Family Brewers are not dead - they continue to refresh Britain's beer drinkers as they have for centuries.

Woodforde's Ale Trail

2011-06-06T17:02:00.006+01:00

A little while ago, I gratefully received some beer from the PR team at Woodforde's Brewery in Norfolk. At the time I made the point that I was disappointed that their fine beers were now seen less regularly in London's pubs.

In a previous life I had always enjoyed their session bitter, Wherry, in one of my locals but now never see it anywhere.

Well, it would appear that I need to get out more, or at least frequent some different pubs.

The Woodforde's Ale trail which runs until the end of the month suggests that their beers can be found in as many as fifty pubs in the Greater London area.

Drink enough of their beers and you can get the usual freebies of glasses, T-shirts and beer. Find out more at www.woodfordes.co.uk

London Pride Walk 2011

2011-06-06T10:47:00.007+01:00

I am always happy to give a shout-out for a good cause, particularly if it includes beer.

The 16th annual 10km London Pride Walk takes place from the Fullers Brewery at 11am on Sunday 19th June in support of Cancer Research UK, specifically Hammersmith Hospital.

I have enjoyed this event for many years; either walking, running (I was fit enough once), pub crawling (that's more like it - a slightly slower pace) and in the last couple of years volunteering to help the team from CRUK. It is a family event with a really friendly feeling, with local people supported by a local brewery raise funds for a local charity while having great fun.

I wrote about last years event here where you can see how much I enjoy the event (and the beer).

The route follows the Thames path over Chiswick and Hammersmith Bridges starting and ending at the Griffin Brewery.

The charge to join in is a fiver though plenty of people take it as an opportunity to raise extra sponsorship for the worthy cause.

Just pitch up and register on the day though the well organised should register in advance here.

I look forward to seeing one or two of you on the day.

A few more details from the press release :
The event starts at 11am and the 10km can be completed as a swift run, an easy jog or a relaxed stroll. Afterwards there will be many attractions in Homefield Park next to the brewery. Participants will be greeted at the end with a complimentary drink from sponsors Fullers. An organic BBQ is planned, massages for aching limbs, live music and lots of stalls and fair-like attractions. Scientists from Hammersmith Hospital will be there on the day to explain a little more about their research and will be extracting DNA from strawberries to demonstrate some of the techniques used.

A CAMRA Fundamentalist View

2011-06-03T10:08:00.001+01:00

There has been much noise recently about whether CAMRA should embrace the new wave of craft keg beers that are now available.

As a fully paid up noisome blogger and also a previous CAMRA regional director, it is time for me to throw my tuppence in.

I am firmly of the opinion that CAMRA works best as a single issue Campaign. Focusing on the single issue of real ale gives clarity, strength and focus.

I agree with CAMRA chairman, Colin Valentine, when he says "The clue is in our name. We are the Campaign for Real Ale. Which one of those four words do the bloggerati not understand ? .....We decide what we will campaign for, not the bloggerati and while I have anything to do with it, we will remain the Campaign for Real Ale."

Oh, and by the way, as a CAMRA fundamentalist member of the bloggerati, I don't think the Campaign should spend its time, effort or resources on supporting, promoting or campaigning for any of the following :

Cider
Perry
Historic Pubs
Public Transport
Cheap Beer
Beer is Healthy
Beer for Women
Belgian Beer
German Beer
Czech Beer
Budveiser Budvar
Any Foreign Beer (that is not "real")
Good, Traditional Beers from Foreign Countries
Craft Keg
Any Keg Beer
Clubs
Beer Duty
Beer and Food
Drinking Beer at Home
Real Ale in a Bottle
Bottle Conditioned Beers
Full Pint
Licensing
Discounts for Members
Museums
Overseas Travel
Alcoholic Ginger Beer

This is not an exhaustive list.

I'll accept generic pub campaigning given that the on-trade is the only place to get good, fresh and tasty cask conditioned beer, but bring back the Campaign for REAL ALE and be rid of all the other detritus.

CAMRA's External Policy Document, clause 15 states :

CAMRA supports :
- the promotion of real ale as an environmentally friendly product.
- the promotion of the provenance and local identity of real ale, brewers and pubs.
- all real ale breweries,..., encouraging activities in line with CAMRA policies.....
- the consumption of real ale in pubs.
- campaigning activity against market distortions which damage real ale.

That's enough for me !

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Summary

2011-05-20T10:09:00.001+01:00

I just want to wrap up the summary of Toer de Geuze 2011 before I get stuck into the Beer Bloggers Conference followed by another beery trip with Podge's Tours to the battlefields of Belgium.

On reflection I could have included more words and better photos of people enjoying themselves rather than brewing equipment in-situ but I hope I have given a flavour of the day. Eight or nine (possibly ten or eleven will be open next time) lambic breweries/blenders in one day. Podge's Beer Tours include this as part of a four day/three night weekend including other brewery visits and some of the best bars. Get it in your diary for May 2013.

And finally, 39 weary beer tourist climb aboard the bus and slowly make their way to the Heeren van Liedekercke at Denderleeuw, the famous beer cuisine restaurant. A chance to wind down, share the highlights of the day, eat some fine food and drink some more beer.

No more sours for me. I need a malty, sweet, strong beer. Start with a Struise Pannepot, then a Glazen Toren Ondineke, then what ??? well, your guess is a good as mine.

Slept well !

One of the greatest beer days ever.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Mort Subite

2011-05-18T11:25:00.002+01:00

And so a marvellous day draws to an end. Chasing the end of the day, we chose to skip de Troch in favour of reaching Mort Subite before shut down. Managed a quick look round the historic and modern sides of the brewery without the crowds. Alone in a brewery, among the ghosts of beer - that's more like it.

Another more commercial fruit beer brewer that has again cottoned onto the growing popularity of the more authentic stuff.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - de Cam

2011-05-16T08:34:00.000+01:00

Now coming towards the end of a long day we reach our penultimate stop, de Cam, a new blender set up at the de Cam Museum of folk art in Gooik, SW of Brussels. Beers from Drie Fonteinen, Boon, Girardin and Lindemans are blended in oak casks from Pilsner Urquell. I took full advantage of the slightly longer visit to enjoy glasses of both the Kriek and the Oude Gueuze - both excellent.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Lindemans

2011-05-15T17:50:00.000+01:00

Lindemans is another lambic brewer serving more commercial style fruit beers but for something more traditional seek out the Cuvee Rene Grand Cru Oude Gueuze.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Timmermans

2011-05-14T08:50:00.001+01:00

Podge's magic bus takes us onto Timmerman's, normally associated with sweet commercial beers, but with a nod to tradition, an old brewery , superb museum, and some special Oude Gueuze if you can sniff it out.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Boon (2)

2011-05-12T08:44:00.001+01:00

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Boon

2011-05-11T12:00:00.001+01:00

Up in scale here. Frank Boon's beers are now available world-wide. Even my fine local Fullers pub, Red Lion, Barnes, stocks the standard Boon Kriek and Boon Framboise.

My favourite is the Boon Mariage Parfait Oude Kriek, using the best barrels of aged lambic and the finest quality cherries. A world class beer and a bargain at €4 in the brewery.

A large site, packed with revellers. Those with the energy to take a walk round the site were rewarded with a small taster of the lambic.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Drie Fonteinen

2011-05-10T18:00:00.001+01:00

Slightly longer here to enjoy the beers. A short talk in Flemish was rewarded with a taster of Drie Fonteinen lambic but it was the large glass of Kriekenlambic that really hit the spot (€3). Hand pulled, little carbonation, sharp and refreshing. Starting to get crowded now we reach the middle of the day, and the locals are out in great numbers. Warming up to be a really great day out.

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Oud Beersel

2011-05-10T09:30:00.000+01:00

Next stop is Oud Beersel, the newest of the lambic blenders having resurrected the company after it closed in 2003. We landed here just as one of the HORAL buses arrived so there was a long queue to walk round the cellars.

We were on a mission, so enjoyed another quick glass of lambic and decided to walk to the next place, Drie Fonteinen. Supposedly a 10 minute walk, our plan was to get in an extra glass of Drie Fonteinen beer while the rest of the tour followed either on the bus or a more leisurely stroll.

Luckily I had a guide - NOT. "It's ok, I know where it is, just by the church, in the town" says the guide (Lovely Eric, world famous publican). I started to get worried as no church came in sight, and ten minutes turned to twenty. A schoolboy French conversation got us back on track and the guide did not fail as we reached the next brewery a minute before the bus. Doh !

Toer de Geuze 2011 - Hanssens

2011-05-09T19:00:00.000+01:00

Leave our base hotel in Aalst, north of Brussels, bright and early in eager anticipation of a long day. Our first stop is Hanssens to the south of the City. This family brewed lambic until the Germans stole their copper in WW1 and have blended other people's beers ever since with much success.

A short stop here to aclimatise to the sour beers, a small (free) glass of 4 year old Girardin lambic, a quick walk round and back on the bus. There is much ground to cover.

Toer de Geuze 2011

2011-05-09T09:27:00.012+01:00

Every two years the lambic and gueuze brewers and blenders in the Payottenland area around Brussels throw open their doors to visitors. The event is hosted by HORAL - Hoge Raad voor Ambachtelijke Lambikbieren - Society of Artisanal Lambic brewers.

Put at its most simply, lambic (or lambik) is the pure form of the famous Belgian beers brewed sour by a spontaneous fermentation taking wild yeast strains from the air rather than a more common cultured yeast; gueuze or geuze (pronounced guurzz) is a blend of the still lambics refermented in the bottle to give a more spritzy character and kriek or framboise is a lambic steeped with cherry or raspberry and refermented in the bottle to give a more fruity beer. They are truly the world's most extraordinary beers.

Nine breweries (or blenders) take part and anyone can travel round the venues under their own steam, just visit one brewery, or take an organised tour. Horal organise buses that manage to visit five of the places and it takes a special effort to get to all nine in a day. I visited with Podge's Belgian Beer Tours and our bus managed eight (missing De Troch) having a couple of sat-nav malfunctions during the day, though our companion bus full of Podge's Norwegian beer tourists were delighted to get to all nine. More about Podge's beer tours another time - I have much praise to shout about these legendary beer tours.

The video on the Horal website shows what a family fun day this is, where the hard-core beer geek mixes with local families enjoying the beer, the breweries, the history, the music and the sunshine.

There is no fun in just reading "I went to a brewery and drunk this beer" - You really had to be there to soak it all in. What I will do is share some of the photos that I took in the hope that it will entertain, amuse, give a flavour and hopefully inspire a similar visit for others in 2013.

Ale at the Foundling Hospital

2011-04-27T09:30:00.000+01:00

A month or two ago, I visited the Threads of Feeling Exhibition at London's Foundling Museum. The Foundling Museum tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, London's first home for abandoned children.

The exhibition consisted of 5,000 small swatches of fabric dating from the middle of the eighteenth century. They are pinned to the registration documents that recorded the entry of each baby to the hospital. They were kept by the hospital as a means of establishing an identifyable link between the child and its mother.

Among the scraps of material were other similar tokens left as identification. The one above was among them. It leaves an unknown story. Who was the mother ? How did she come by this token ? What became of the child ?

A poignant representation of a bygone age.

Beer Geek Meets Girl

2011-04-26T16:50:00.002+01:00

Sometimes, when you are the sixty fourth in the top beer bloggers in the UK, it is easy to take yourself too seriously.

Every now and then something pops up to haul you back and remind you that "it's only beer"

I first found this video on Brookston Beer Bulletin but do not think it has been widely shared on this side of the pond. (The original creator is liquidhorseplay)

Very VERY funny .....

Royal Wedding Beer - Windsor & Eton, Windsor Knot 2011

2011-04-26T15:22:00.001+01:00

Enough, Enough, I have supped enough royal wedding beers from 1981 and at last someone has saved me. My friends at Windsor & Eton Brewery took pity on me having to drink stale ale and kindly sent over a bottle of their Windsor Knot fresh from the fermenter.

Although W&E are a new brewery, they have quickly stamped their mark on the beer scene in London. Their first two beers, Guardsmen and Knight of the Garter were a fine introduction but it was when the Conqueror hit London pubs before Christmas that it became clear that this was no ordinary new microbrewery. Conqueror is a "black IPA" and was considered at the time a risky experiment for such a new boy on the scene. However it really hit the mark and was a great success. I gave it a plug here and can still vouch that it remains a most tasty beer that is still a first choice whenever I see it.

The Royal Wedding beer, Windsor Knot - not the only beer of that name but clearly the one with the strongest provenance - is another beer packed with hop character. Sovereign (UK)and Nelson Sauvin (NZ) to represent the home and away of the Empire, oops I mean Commonwealth.

Golden in colour, with a refreshing taste and aroma of tropical fruits, this beer really hit the spot. Only 4% in strength but with the fortitude to satisfy and a long bitter finish that begs the next sip.

I am a big fan of 330ml beers especially for strong beers or those that need to be drunk cold. However on this occasion it was not enough, I wanted more. This beer was so good that I could have managed a 5 litre mini-cask and still not been satisfied.

On Twitter the other day, @thegunmakers tweeted "I'm calling it : @WindsorEtonBrew is the best new brewery in SE England for a long while ..."

I going to try to get down to the Gunmakers beer festival before the week is out to reacquaint myself with this beer in its cask form - and in a measure greater than 330ml.

You have not got long to take advantage of this year's wedding beers but if you want something with which to toast the happy couple, and the subsequent happy coupling, you should snap up a bottle or even a 5l mini-cask of Windsor Knot. Recommended !

Two Weeks of Beer Festivals

2011-04-20T11:00:00.001+01:00

Strewth ! The country seems to be closing down in anticipation for Easter, a Royal Wedding and four bank holidays. This is an opportunity not to be missed and there are plenty of beer festivals in which to enjoy the holidays.

I cannot promise to be everywhere but you are highly likely to catch me supping in many of the following places in the coming week or so :

Egham United Services Club beer festivals have quickly become UNMISSABLE. This one runs from Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th. I cannot seem to see the beer list on the web-site though I remember that there will be 7 beers from Ascot Ales and 4 from Windsor & Eton so I won't have to think too hard or too long to make a sensible choice.

The Willoughby Arms in Kingston us having a monster effort covering the whole holiday with their usual St George's Day festival extending through to a Royal Wedding festival the following weekend - a beer festival of two halves from Thursday 21st to Mon 25th, then Tues 26th to Mon May 1st. A good effort and well worth a visit.

Brodies Bunny Basher at King William Fourth, Leyton on 29th, 30th, 1st and 2nd, for over twenty Brodies beers on pump at all times at £1.99 a pint. Unbeatable value for a beer festival.

If the consistent quality of the beer through the pumps is anything to go by, it should be worth making a trip to the Gunmakers in Clerkenwell next week. Their first beer festival is on from Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th and promises Kernel beers, so rare in cask, Ascot and Windsor royal wedding beers plus ales from two of the best Tyneside breweries, Jarrow and Big Lamp.

An Easter holiday trip to the seaside is always a must. Refreshment in Margate is available at the Winter Gardens where CAMRA host the Planet Thanet Beer Festival on Good Friday and Saturday.

CAMRA's Bexley beer festival is at Sidcup Sports Club on 28th, 29th and 30th.

New ale venue Mason & Taylor in Bethnal Green Road will be having a single hop festival over Easter from 22nd to 25th

For those who like to drink a little farther afield, the Toer de Geuze is on Sunday 1st May, when all of the Belgian sour beer breweries in Payottenland throw open their doors to visitors. A special day that only occurs every two years.

Diary note - CAMRA Kingston beer festival 13th and 14th May, CAMRA SE London 1st Beckenham beer festival 28th and 30th May at Beckenham Rugby Club. Finally Ealing beer festival this year is from 6th to 9th July.

Royal Wedding Beer - Hall & Woodhouse 1981

2011-04-16T10:00:00.000+01:00

Moving through the brewing family tree I now open a bottle of the beer that Hall & Woodhouse brewed in 1981 to celebrate the wedding of Charles and Diana. Looking through the bottle I was certain that the beer was cloudy and stale.

Upon opening I was surprised to hear and see some condition in the beer and it poured with a small tight white head and was crystal clear.
It was the glass of the bottle that had failed not the beer !

Although not quite the eureka moment of the King and Barnes effort, this beer was definitely still drinkable. The carbonation and gentle sweetness coming through to disguise any stale flavours leaving a pleasant nutty, bitter aftertaste.

The beer was served in a 275ml brown bottle with a crown cap and a foil neck label. The bottle was individually numbered and the label was marked "for royal toasts".

Hall & Woodhouse have also lasted the test of time.
In 1981 they owned 158 pubs of which 100 served real ale. They now have 240 pubs all selling cask ale.

The brewery in Blandford Forum has only just lasted the last 30 years and it is now creaking a little under production pressures and red tape bureaucracy.

Unlike Young's who in a similar position decided to close the Wandsworth brewery and de-camp to Bedford, Hall & Woodhouse have taken the bold decision to build a new brewery on the existing site.

At a cost of £5 million, it is a decision to be applauded and shouted from the rooftops. Building and commissioning is under way and trial brews are expected in the autumn.

I, for one, look forward to visiting the new brewery and raising a glass of Badger beer to progress.

How many pubs in a marathon ?

2011-04-15T10:30:00.000+01:00

On Sunday 17th April the streets of central London will be pounded by the feet of the runners of the London Marathon. London's favourite brewery, Fuller's, are again showing the health benefits of a beer before, during and after exercise by sponsoring the event with the official beer of the marathon, London Pride.

This will also be demonstrated when the man dressed as a bottle of London Pride again beats the bottle of Lucozade to the finishing line. Fuller's staff will also be manning the various official cheering stations where you will be able to pick up your flag and enjoy a taster of the official beer.

Fuller's have also published a spectators guide - downloadable here - which shows a map of the course, the locations of the cheering stations and details of the real marathon, the 13 Fuller's pubs on or near the route plus a further 5 near the finish.

13 pubs in less than five hours - a marathon but slightly more achievable for me than 26 miles.

Cheers !

By the way, a funny thing happened yesterday. A kind person posted a link to my blog to the news stream http://www.reddit.com/.

As a result, instead of a couple of hundred people visiting, in the last 24 hours over 3,000 have dropped by.

If any of you have popped in for a second look, you are most welcome. It might just help to improve my Wikio blog ranking from a lowly 64th !

Otherwise I am going to be pretty embarrassed at the beer bloggers conference when they ask "now, which one of you has the lowest ranking blog ? "

Top Hats for Brewers ?

2011-04-14T11:54:00.010+01:00

I have shamelessly lifted this short article from a recent newsletter of the Brewery History Society thinking it worthy of a slightly wider readership.

It describes the preferred headwear for brewers early in the twentieth century.

Nowadays, you are lucky if you find a brewer in a hairnet and a white coat, with perhaps a baseball cap and hoody being the 21st century version of the top hat and frock coat.

Taken from Brewers Guardian published in October 1935

It is said that top hats are coming into vogue again, but very few are seen about the streets at present. In the days of our youth every brewer wore a top hat and frock coat and even the clerks in the brewery offices wore them.

At Courage's brewery the top hat is still de rigeur among the firm's brewing staff, and whenever we have met Mr Le May, their head brewer, he has always worn a top hat and morning coat.

A director of the company explained that formerly all brewers wore silk hats.

"Breweries usually being badly lit and invariably having quantities of pipes at the most inconvenient heights, top hats served the dual purpose of feelers and crash helmets. As the pipes and the bad lighting are still fairly common, I can only suppose that the brewers must now have become too artful at dodging to need any protection."

These top-hatted brewers once had the active support of the directors, but in 1920 even the board deserted silk hats for the bowler. For the same reason the under-brewers at Burton wear straw hats. some of the Birmingham brewers do likewise.

I have pinched the photo used to illustrate this from http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/ and it shows Mr Samuel Charles Allsop from Burton c1885.

Southwold - A Photo Diary

2011-04-05T13:51:00.015+01:00

Last week, I took my good lady away for a few days to celebrate her significant birthday. There follows my story of the trip. Her story may be different.

<<< Is that a brewery that I can see through our bedroom window ?

Do you know, I think it might be >>>

Darling, I think I can see the sea ! >>>

<<< Ooh look that's an off licence.

No, THAT'S an off licence ! Result, bottles of Tally Ho.>>>

<<< I think there's a lighthouse somewhere in Southwold. Let's ask in the pub where it is.

Did you know that Adnams now have a distillery ?

<<< Great hotel, warm welcome, beautiful room, award winning restaurant, comprehensive wine list, choice of cask ales, shame about the Tally Ho.

There you are, a great location for a few days away from the smoke.

A shame that birdwatching commitments meant there was no time to take a closer look at the brewery or distillery but in truth, wherever you visit, you should always leave a reason to return. We'll definitely be back soon.

PS The story of the lack of Tally Ho in the hotel restaurant is not really for public consumption as the only thing it really proved is that a beer-geek can be easily as bad as the worst wine bore when it comes to sharing the passion. Perhaps I'll pluck up the courage to elaborate more someday.

Royal Wedding Beer - King & Barnes, Celebration Royale 1981

2011-03-29T12:32:00.012+01:00

This morning I had a plan to open more bottles from my 1981 collection of Royal Wedding beers. Given the experience of those opened thus far, I was expecting to open, pour, sniff, sip and throw away the stale oxidised beers.

However, I was to get a pleasant surprise courtesy of King & Barnes Brewery fermerly of Horsham in Sussex.

As I opened the bottle there was the unsurprising plop of the cap and no discernible condition but upon pouring I knew this was going to be different from the other beers.

The aroma of figs, molasses and sugar candy instantly filling my nose. The first taste was fantastic, a revelation, an epiphany. I was expecting cardboard, I got the the sweetness of an oloroso sherry. An overpowering sweetness maybe but not a stale flavour, a sweet flavour of a very weak oversugared coffee, the sweetest beer you will ever taste but with a lingering bitterness of a high cocoa chocolate.

This is a special beer, the aroma continues to fill the room as I write this and I continue to sip the "extra strong ale"; I'm guessing about 10%. The freshness is disappearing quickly and I know this moment will not last.

As I enjoy the beer, I reminisce about King and Barnes and know that I am the only person on the planet to be enjoying this beer today.

An experiment in beer ageing that in one mouthful changes my honestly held belief that beer is for drinking not storing and an expectation or an ambitious hope that I will find something else as special as this in my box of old beer.

The beer was presented in a 180ml, 6.34 fl oz brown bottle with crown cap and was described as Extra Strong Ale. No abv disclosed on the label.

In 1981 King & Barnes owned 59 pubs in the south east. In 2000 the brewery and pubs were sold to Hall & Woodhouse and the brewery was redeveloped for housing.

Hall & Woodhouse promised to preserve some of the King & Barnes brands and were seen as a preferable buyer to Shepherd Neame or Greene King who were both interested once the family had decided to sell.

Crucially though, it was really the pubs that were seen to have most value and Hall & Woodhouse continue to own and operate many of the old King & Barnes pubs though there remains some sadness at a very local level that King & Barnes is no more.

The closure of King & Barnes Brewery spawned three offspring in Horsham; WJ King run by Bill King (MD of K&B), Welton's and Hepworth's both set up by brewers at K&B.

All three are still operating though Bill King has just retired to take up his hobby of flying aircraft more seriously and sold his brewery in 2010 to Ian Burgess who has spent the last nineteen years at Harvey's in Lewes

And so the brewing family continues to grow and expand at a micro level.

myBrewerytap.com

2011-03-25T10:34:00.010Z

One thing I have been meaning to do for a while is to share the joy that is myBrewerytap.com.

I am a big fan of on-line beer shops but only if they bring something different. Realale.com for bottled conditioned micro-brewed beers, Beermerchants.com for something special from Belgium or USA and now myBrewerytap.com for their 52 week beer clubs.

The first time I shopped was when I needed a present for my brother-in-law last year and bought him a 52 week beer club. You pay up front, £89.99 plus one delivery fee of £5.99, and myBrewerytap.com deliver a box of thirteen beers to your loved-one every quarter. Beer lover, B-I-L, was delighted (he lives right in the Devon sticks, so I'm sure the courier firm weren't so delighted) describing it as the "gift that keeps on giving".

Watching jealously from afar, I was most impressed with the selection each quarter. The guys at MBT clearly taking much care and attention in selecting the country's finest bottled beers. (It must be a really tough job researching and choosing the selection).

When they announced a US 52 week beer club I could not resist. Limited to fifty members due to the scarcity of the beers and slightly more expensive at £119.99 + one delivery fee of £5.99 it runs on the same basis - a quarterly delivery of thirteen US craft brews.

Every three months a new box lands on the doorstep, packed with interesting American beers from the renowned Brooklyn, Flying Dog, Sierra Nevada, Odell, Stone, Goose Island and Anchor to the lesser known Smutty Nose to some previously unknown to me like Uinta, Buckbean, Ballast Point and Caldera. In your face IPAs; America's take on some UK beer styles like ESB and brown ale, porters, stouts; spicy winter beers to warm in the cold weather, fruity and hoppy for the spring.

The latest box even included three canned beers. I had come across 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, much of whose output is canned beer, so I knew that craft beer in a tin was not necessarily a great Satan. The cans in the current box include an IPA and a pale ale from Caldera in Oregon and a Bavarian style schwarzbier from Buckbean in Nevada. All fresh and tasty with no metallic aftertaste or aggressive carbonation, slugged straight from the tin or poured into a glass if you prefer. More tins are promised later in the year.

I am well impressed again with the care and attention put into selecting the beers. These are some of the finest that USA has to offer, straight to my door, at regular intervals.

So there you have it, an honest recommendation for myBrewerytap.com from a most satisfied customer. The website, service, delivery and most importantly the beers are all first class IMHO.

Brewery History Society - Michael Jackson

2011-03-24T08:34:00.000Z

As I failed to publicise the Brewery History Society's recent conference held in Burton, it is right that I make amends to give a shout out for something slightly nearer home.

The latest edition of the Society's Journal is a special edition to celebrate the life and work of Michael Jackson. The editor, Tim Holt, invited leading beer writer, Pete Brown, to edit it and they gathered a well respected and experienced list of contributors.

The result will be launched at the Rake in Borough Market at 6pm on Sunday 27th March.

Hopefully there will be a good turnout to further mark the contribution that Michael Jackson made to beer writing.

If you are in any doubt of his influence, the picture used to illustrate this piece shows the banner above the bookstore at the Great American Beer Festival in 2008, perhaps demonstrating that it is the USA where he was/is most recognised.

For more details of the Journal see the BHS web site .

Pete Brown has also provided more information on his blog here.

The cover price is £4.50 but, naturally posted free to all members, included in the subscription of the Brewery History Society. The annual membership is £18 which continues to represent remarkable value given the continued quality of its Journal again demonstrated by this special edition.

London's Riverside Pubs

2011-03-23T11:25:00.012Z

A glimpse of sun and a few hours more daylight and I feel inclined to re-join the beer blogging world.

This was supposed to be a bog-standard review of the latest beer book to land on the doormat, London's Riverside Pubs by Tim Hampson but its arrival and subsequent thumb-through has stirred a rousing of passion from within and a desire to reflect on my life in London and my memories of riverside pubs.

(My fiftieth birthday approaches on the eve of GBBF and it is causing many such reflections.)

Reflecting on fifty years in London, it is fair to say that the River Thames has been ever-present without being particularly influential. I have spent time in plenty of riverside pubs without ever really realising their significance.

I spent my early years in Mortlake. Indeed, my father's family ran a dairy on Mortlake High Street before I was even born and my grandfather's local in '40s and '50s was the Old George which was demolished in '60s making way for a wider road and the modern Charlie Butler (both Youngs pubs) both very close to the Mortlake (Watneys / Budweiser Brewery and the river bank.

As a child I lived in East Sheen, a short walk from the river, and this is where I still call home today.

I never went to university but everyone locally takes either the side of dark blue or light on Boat Race day - which happens to be this Saturday. A fight to the bar among the crowds in the Ship at Mortlake watching the finishing line is always a blast. Excellent London Pride here too.

As a teenager, I got to know the riverside pubs pretty well from Kingston, where the Bishop Out of Residence was Young's brand new trendy pub in 1979, meeting friends in Teddington and Twickenham where the Barmy Arms was a favourite place for teenage misbehaviour and the Turks Head (Young's again), the scene of some river naked skinny dipping the evening when I finished my A levels at the local college.

Happily I did eventually show some maturity which brings me to Richmond's pubs where I met and wooed my wife. Young's, White Cross and Watermans Arms being close to the river together with the Old Ship - more centrally townside, the upstairs crows' nest being a particular favourite spot.

I started married life in Barnes, where estate agent poetic license described our flat as having "top-window" riverside views. Not really a total misrepresentation but you did have to stand on the loo to see the boat race crews whizz by in an instant.

I remember celebrating my qualification as an accountant with a fine dinner in the restaurant attached to the Bulls Head, Barnes, the famous riverside jazz pub (Young's yet again) and spent many splendid afternoons in and out of pubs along this stretch.

In my working life, I was never far from the river spending seven years in Southwark Bridge Road and a short walk to London Bridge where you now find the excellent Rake, Market Porter and Barrowboy & Banker. Then fifteen years in the Adelphi Building on the north bank at Embankment. My office was at the back of the building (as the beancounter, I was non fee earning staff !) though I could see the river if I stretched and gazed out of the side window and I did plenty of that.

Not too many actual riverside pubs in this stretch of river but if you count The Strand and Fleet Street it was fair to say it was not all work and no play. Indeed the Strand now has a rather good pub crawl now if you include the Harp at one end, the two Nicholson's pubs, Coal Hole and Wellington, together with the historic Nell Gwynn and Sam Smith's Lyceum. If you have the stamina, Fleet Street provides the second half of a monster pub walk if you so choose.

My CAMRA and beer blogging efforts always keeps me close to the Thames. I have enjoyed many visits to Fullers Griffin Brewery and generally walk there from home, about forty minutes if I don't stop at the White Hart or Bulls Head in Barnes always arriving in time for a sharpener in the Mawson's Arms alongside the brewery and a spit away from the river.

Following the Fuller's agm in July each year, I always lead a walk along the riverbank to Hammersmith dropping in on the Black Lion, The Old Ship, The Dove (Fuller's) where we cram into the world's smallest public bar thinking it's funny and has never been done before, onto the Rutland Arms and the Blue Anchor just before Hammersmith Bridge. A fine refreshing walk before reaching the excellent transport links that Hammersmith has (but Chiswick does not really).

So there you are, not really a book review but a stirring of memories of pubs along the river that I know so well. The book also gives me the will to visit pubs and parts of the river that I know less well such as the north bank at Chiswick, historic Greenwich and the Meantime, Old Brewery and some of the famous waterside inns of East London.

If you really want to know, the book is a paperback, 208 pages, with full colour on every glossy page. It includes 100 of the capital's best waterside pubs and the maps are clear and easy to follow. You are even given a clue of what beers you might find in each pub. Cover price is £14.99 but as usual our on-line friends generally offer it cheaper.

It is a perfect guide whether you know London or not, whether you live here or are a visitor, whether you are interested in the pubs, the river or just rambling along its bank.

Most people who have ever dropped by on this blog will know that I love London, its pubs, its beers and its breweries. This book gives a flavour of why proud Londoner's love their City so much.

Thanks to publishers, New Holland, who were kind enough to provide me with my copy of London's Riverside Pubs by Tim Hampson.

Royal Wedding Beer - Samuel Smith's Strong Porter 1981

2011-02-14T17:02:00.011Z

Another "stubby" bottle with a ring pull cap this week, this time brewed at Sam Smith's Tadcaster brewery, Yorkshire's oldest.

A rather classy silver label with black background describing a strong porter "brewed to commemorate the marriage of HRH The Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer, 29th July 1981". The bottle is 440ml or 15.5 fl oz and the beer had OG of 1048-50.

Beer poured with no condition and was not drinkable.

Sam Smith's have lasted the test of time and some might say that their company operates on very similar lines and has changed little over thirty years.

However, there is always a part of a London beer drinker's heart that belongs to Sam's for their continued sympathetic stewardship of some of the Capital's finest historic pubs.

I am making a habit in this series of posts of raising a glass to those buisnesses that are still brewing tasty beers some thirty years later.

Cheers today go to Samuel Smith's

By the way, I heard this week that Westerham Brewery's 2011 royal wedding effort will be called Matrimoniale. (I can't find any reference to this so I hope I didn't dream it) - another name more imaginative than the 1981 efforts.

Also Goddards royal wedding beer from the Isle of Wight would be called Windsor Knot - slightly less imaginative as Windsor and Eton Brewery already claim the same name.

Pub History Conference Cancelled

2011-02-03T19:59:00.001Z

The Pub History Conference scheduled for 19th february has been cancelled.

Meantime College Beer Club

2011-01-30T17:29:00.011Z

There is no doubt that the twelve deliveries of two 75cl bottles of special and rare beers as part of the College Beer Club membership will prove to be excellent beers. However, at a chunky £350 for an annual membership, the guys at Meantime know that they will need to offer something additional in order to get people to join and more importantly renew for a second year.

Their idea is to make the Club more collegiate and to bring to members something a little different than just pubs and beer and to include a number of exclusive member benefits and events.

The launch event was held a couple of weeks ago at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House, SE1 where members of the club were invited to a private viewing of one of Manet’s last great paintings, the Bar at the Folies-Bergère, painted in 1882.

About fifty members ventured out on a very cold evening and we were guided on arrival into the main gallery which is packed with major Impressionist works by leading artists such as Van Gogh and Gaugin. We eventually gathered in front of Manet's iconic painting where we were addressed on its merits, its context and its historical importance by Emeritus Professor John House, a leading authority on such works.

The only beer in the gallery was the two bottles of Bass that are in the painting of the Bar at the Folies Bergère - one thought is that the famous venue was a tourist trap attracting wealthy Brits who were drawn to their favourite beer - served warm from the bar - before legging it with one of the ladies of the night. Alternatively, the Bass could have been such a world famous beer that it sold well among the chilled champagne and fine wines.

After a full illustration of the painting we were led to the foyer where Peter Haydon of Meantime gave a talk on the history of brewing in London, the Bass application for the very first trademark and the tales that all beer - whether IPA, Stouts and Porters and indeed Pilsner lager all emanated from London.

We were all drawn into the stories with copious amounts of Meantime IPA, London Porter and were sent home with a bottle of the most tasty, Meantime London Lager.

A very enjoyable evening in good company that will hopefully set the scene for the year ahead. I am looking forward to the next event almost as much as the next delivery of beer.

It is hoped that the next event will be a talk on some of the famous Hogarth etchings that are in the John Soane Museum while the next beer will be a 7.5% Scotch Ale.

Pub History Conference

2011-01-27T12:21:00.007Z

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED ......

It has been announced that this year's Pub History Conference will take place on Saturday 19th February.

The conference, organised by the Pub History Society, will again be held at the National Archives in Kew and will include a wide range of speakers on various aspects of inns and taverns and their role in British society. It is expected to start at 11am and finish at 4pm.

See what I thought about last year's conference here.

This year's subjects are likely to include lager drinking in Edwardian England, seventeenth century survival in Suffolk, the records that innkeepers left behind and the role of pubs in rural Northants.

It is also hoped to have speakers on pub tiles, a Quaker temperance archive and a guest appearance by David Bruce, founder of the Firkin chain of brewpubs, reminiscing about how the Firkins changed the pub scene forever.

A show-and-tell session on pub related ephemera and memorabilia wraps up what should prove to be another enjoyable day.

Tickets are £5 on the door, which will include three months membership of the Society, tea and coffee and a behind scenes tour of the UK’s national archives. Pub History Society Members Free of charge. Further information and booking details are here.

If anyone thinks that the event might be a little dry and that there are no decent watering holes around the Archives, afterwards it is a short stroll back along the riverbank to Mortlake for a glance at the exterior of its historic brewery (now the Budweiser factory) and a beer or two in the local pubs, the old and the more modern.

By the way, for final clarification, I am not the same Steve Williams who helps organise this event and who is a Pub History Society committee member.

Royal Wedding Beer - Theakston's Prince of Ales 1981

2011-01-23T18:11:00.005Z

A rather natty black and gold label adorned the Prince of Ales from Theakston's Brewery in Masham, North Yorkshire, brewed for the 1981 royal wedding. 275ml or 9.68 fluid ounces in a brown bottle but the point of difference for this beer was the stubby bottle design and the ring pull cap.

Alas after thirty years of being stored in poor conditions and its initial pasteurisation mean the beer is undrinkable.

Theakston's has had an interesting thirty years and has survived despite several set-backs. In 1981 the company had only eight pubs but the name of Old Peculier was already big in the free-trade.

In 1984 the company was taken over by Blackburn brewer, Matthew Brown, which was in turn gobbled up by Scottish and Newcastle in 1987. In 2004 the company returned to private hands when four Theakston brothers bought the company from S&N.

Hopefully we will see a 2011 version of the beer later in the spring.

Royal Wedding Beers - Castle Rock + Windson/Eton

2011-01-23T18:04:00.003Z

I make no apology for saying that I am looking forward to seeing some of the 2011 Royal Wedding beers hitting the bars in the next month or three. Those from 1981 that I am opening and tasting are pretty much undrinkable.

Two early announcements, Windsor Knot from Windsor and Eton Brewery and Kiss Me Kate from Castle Rock, show at the very least that today's breweries have a bit more imagination about the name of the beers than the pedestrian Royal Ale, Bridal Ale or Prince of Ales from 1981.

This time I intend to drink the damn things rather than stick them in a cupboard for thirty years.

Bring it on guys ....

Royal Wedding Beer - St Austell Royal Wedding Ale 1981

2011-01-14T18:00:00.001Z

This week's bottle of royal wedding beer brewed in 1981 to celebrate Charles and Diana's wedding is from St Austell Brewery in Cornwall.

Presented in a standard brown 275ml bottle with crown embossed foil top the beer poured completely bright and a dark ruby red colour with a brownish hue. The beer unbelievably had some sparkle to it having been "maturing" in the bottle for thirty years and had a small head that lasted while I drank it.

Although there were signs of age with the usual musty vinous aroma there was also an discernible aroma of leather and tobacco with a very slight fruitiness. The taste was pretty good. The sparkle really encouraged the subtle flavours out, a hint of raisin, perhaps blackberry with a lingering dry bitter finish.

The bottle does not show the alcohol content but I would guess fairly high (6%+) to give it legs for so long. Not delicious but definitely drinkable.

Good Beer Guide 1982 suggests that at that time St Austell Brewery had 132 pubs of which 62 served real ale.

It is gratifying to note that St Austell remain in business, proud of their family-owned independence, after well over 150 years. Real ale is now sold in all 169 pubs and throughout the country's free trade pubs.

In the current micro-brewing boom, I also stand firmly behind the family brewers that have remained loyal to the beer drinker for hundreds of years and I raise my glass in Tribute to St Austell Brewery. (see what I did there ?)

Windsor and Eton Brewery - Conquerer Black IPA

2011-01-14T13:48:00.002Z

Giving a shout-out to Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham's Dwink.co.uk website yesterday reminded me once more of my blogging failings - you can't beat pros.

Over the back end of last year I came across the newest beer from Windsor and Eton Brewery a number of times - Conquerer, described as a black IPA brewed to 5% with 5 different malts along with Summit and Cascade hops to produce an intense combination of roasted flavours balanced with full fresh pine hop aroma.

Every time I tried the beer it got better and better, every time I saw it on the bar I had to try it. It really was one of the beer highlights of 2010.

When it came to sharing its delights on this blog, I came across the musings of Ben (I assume) on the Dwink website.

There are times when you read something that just can't be improved upon. I can't beat this !

Read what Dwink.co.uk thought about the beer here.

Hall & Woodhouse - A Gun Box of Beer ?

2011-01-13T12:15:00.011Z

My blogging failings are shown up for all to see as I continue my Christmas gift guide well into the new year.

During last year Hall & Woodhouse Brewery created a gift box which was sent out to various media, beer writers, bloggers and other PR contacts to promote a new range of bottles.

The cardboard box holding a dozen bottles was designed to look like a wooden gun case with rope handles and printed in a wood effect. Inside the lid were found the tasting notes for the ten beers and two ciders.

The design and presentation of the gun box was so good that it went onto win an award for innovative packaging and is now available to the public via the Badger Direct website.

The Badger boys (and girls) are one of the family brewers who have embraced the internet fully and are using their website(s) with a great deal of creativity :

Check out the Badger Sett Ale Club web-site here.

and some funny stuff from Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham on their excellent Dwink.co.uk website here.

Hall and Woodhouse is changing. They took a major decision some time ago to redevelop the old brewery site and replace it with a more modern plant. There were sceptic mutterings at the time about whether The Badger really had the appetite for such a big project. The announcement that the new brewhouse had been commissioned put a stop to that scepticism and now there is up-to-date news that the new brewery development is well under way - watch this space.

For the avoidance of doubt, I was delighted to receive such a box of beer and thoroughly enjoyed its contents. Thanks Badger !

Royal Wedding Beer - Devenish Wedding Ale 1981

2011-01-07T15:17:00.008Z

The bottle opened this week is from Devenish Brewery. It was presented in a 275ml brown bottle with foil top. It was the first one that I have opened that has any sort of sparkle to it with a comforting pfzz on opening and even a small head when poured. The beer was a ruby red colour and poured completely bright.

These beers are generally not tasting too good, and would be generally considered to be "stale". However the sparkle did give it a lift and through the cardboard flavour and aroma did come some sherry/madeira notes and a hint of toffee/caramelisation.

Again no suggestion as to strength as that was not required to be on the label thirty years ago. Failed to drink the whole bottle.

Good Beer Guide 1982 suggests that there were two Devenish Breweries in 1981, one in Weymouth and one in Redruth. The bottle gives no clue as to its provenance. About 100out of their combined 360 pubs served real ale at that time.

Century of British Brewers published by Brewery History Society suggests that brewing ceased in Redruth as late as 2004 and in Weymouth in 1985.

The pubs were taken over by Boddingtons in 1993 - part of Whitbread's consolidation of the British pub and brewing industry. The pubs I believe, though cannot be absolutely sure, eventually found their way into the Punch Taverns estate via banks and venture capital investors.

Happy New Year

2011-01-07T14:47:00.003Z

Yes, Yes, I know it's already a week into the year and I know that it is a month since the last post but what else could I offer as my start to another fresh year.

Christmas came and went, a trip to Ghent just before was cold but picturesque - more about the beers and bars some other time, if yer lucky. Weather thereafter meant that I strayed no farther than my cable tow from my Christmas tree.

Weather also meant my delivery from Meantime College Beer Club did not make it for Christmas and remains unopened awaiting a time when I just fancy a 13% Imperial Russian Stout - mmm

Next delivery from Mybrewerytap 52 week US beer club did make it through the snow but I have yet to do it justice apart from admire the list of beers within.

Christmas and New Year drinking was non eventful; saved by four pints of Dark Star (Hophead and APA) at the Evening Star on New Year Eve and a reacquainting with canned beer courtesy of Fullers - did beer in a tin always taste that good ? More on this too anon.

All I can offer you this year is more of the same. Though the more I read other peoples blogs the more I realise my shortcomings here. I am also going to suffer (suffer ?) a very big birthday at the beginning of August and would hate to be the oldest swinger in town so will have to suck it and see thereafter.

Anyway, I wish you all well for this year. Those who I know, I hope to bump into you over a pint or two somewhere on our travels. Those I don't know or who are farther afield, you mad fools, what are you doing here ?

Home Brew

2010-12-13T15:46:00.000Z

An affordable gift this Christmas is the latest book on home brewing that was recently sent to me by the publishers.

Home Brew is a smart hardback book with 208 pages packed with good ideas for making drinks at home. It includes sections on beer, cider and fruit wines and describes recipes, techniques and other essential information to get you started.

This would be a good starter book for anyone who is keen on home produce and would be perfect to use to start making drinks from your allotment harvest or garden seasonal fruits.

I prefer to drink the stuff rather than make it and I prefer my beer to be professionally brewed rather than prepared in a bucket. Hence I have already passed the book onto someone who will make more use of it than me. Someone who is already keen on self-sufficiency, a keen apple juice, cider and beer maker and someone who I know will take advantage of the recipes and instructions for fruit wines or perhaps even mead in the book.

If you have anyone similar in the family, this book would make a good present. £20 cover price but the usual Amazon discount brings it to you for £11.10

Royal Wedding Beer - Paine's Young Rowley 1981

2010-12-13T09:10:00.001Z

This week's 1981 Royal Wedding beer is Young Rowley brewed by Paine & Co in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

Another 275ml brown bottle with foil top and crown cap. It is common for beers in this period not to have the ABV on the label.

The beer poured a very dark red colour but was completely flat and had bits floating throughout.

The aroma was stale and not pleasant and , although the taste did have some subtle hints of fruit and sweetness, I decided that a couple of sips was more than sufficient.

This beer was called Young Rowley. I believe that this is a nod to the fact that Charles II was nicknamed "Old Rowley" which was the name of his favourite horse, Prince Charles thus being nicknamed "Young Rowley" by Paine's Brewery.

Some background from A Century of British Brewers published by the Brewery History Society : James Paine acquired the brewery site in St Neots in 1831. The company was renamed Paine & Co in 1896. The business was taken over by a group of travel agents in 1982 and was eventually acquired by Tollemache & Cobbold in 1987 when brewing ceased.

The 1982 Good Beer Guide suggests that 15 of its 23 houses sold real ale plus many free trade outlets.

College Beer Club from Meantime

2010-12-12T14:25:00.008Z

This week I am going to share some ideas for Christmas presents for the beer drinker. First up is probably the most extravagant gift of the season, an annual membership of the College Beer Club launched in time for Christmas by Meantime of Greenwich.

An annual membership brings two 750ml corked and wired champagne bottles of specially brewed and aged beers couriered each month to your door. The first beer hopefully delivered in time for Christmas will be a 13.5% imperial Russian stout, aged for ten months in whisky casks and described as liquid Christmas pudding. This will be followed by monthly deliveries of wood aged beers, historic beer styles from previous centuries, recreations of lost recipes plus innovative new brews all created by the fair hand of the Meantime brewmeister, Alastair Hook.

I am not going to deny that £350 for twelve deliveries of two bottles is not a large amount of money, each bottle working out at just under £15 a bottle. However, with membership limited to 500 these beers are going to be scarce. Once they're gone, they're gone and compared to some of the special imports from USA and Scandinavia they represent some value.

I have spent my expenses as London Ale Taster on my membership which I think is a rather neat virtuous beer circle.

I am also rationalising spending that much money by comparing it to the investment made last year in Brewdog. Some of us sent Brewdog money last year when they went through a fundraising to grow the business. There was no beer involved, just an investment, a chance to share in the future growth of the company and a feeling of being involved with one of the country's most innovative outfits.

I see much in common with the College Beer Club. A chance to support Meantime's move to modern new brewery in Greenwich, a feeling of kinship and brotherhood, a chance to feel involved. Instead of a share of future growth, there is the chance to try some great beers over the course of a year.

This College Beer Club "investment" is only for one year and I may be proved wrong but I am guessing that it will be more rewarding and more enjoyable than the future of my Brewdog investment.

So there you have it. An extravagant Christmas present for the beer lover in your life though something with instant payback and enjoyment and a gift that will keep giving throughout the coming year. I look forward to seeing some of you at the launch party in January.

Alarming news about Santa

2010-12-10T14:29:00.010Z

It gives me no pleasure to have to bring this to your attention but I have some alarming news about Santa's business practices over the festive season.

It is alleged, according to my niece's maths homework, that Santa sells on all of the goodies that are left out for him on Christmas Eve.

It would appear that the going rate for mince pies is 20p, the glasses of sherry fetch 40p each and even the carrots have a market value of 5p each. From the income raised, Santa pays out for wrapping paper, gift tags and sellotape. He also has to pay wages to his elves for their efforts.

This information has been leaked by one of the elves who believe that Santa makes enough profit to give his employees a small increase in wages.

Now, that's all well and good in today's financial environment, everyone has to make sure their business affairs are in order but what troubles me the most is that I normally leave Santa something special to warm him up on his long journey.

It might be an aged Fullers Vintage or a Struise Black Damnation; something strong and dark that he won't get in anyone else's house and hopefully something so rare that he will remember me fondly throughout the year and with anticipation when returning to my chimney each year.

Now I am most disappointed to learn that he does not drink the beer but merely flogs it off to the highest bidder.

I know that this has some basis in fact because I saw last year's offering recently in the fridge at the Euston Tap. A 75cl, wired and corked bottle of Gift of the Magi from Lost Abbey Brewery in California. One of the treasures from my beer cupboard, left out for Santa's enjoyment but unceremoniously fenced off to one of London's leading beer bars. The price at the Euston Tap was approaching £30 but one cannot blame the high price on the good people there. They have merely suffered an extra leg in the supply chain and have to price accordingly. Hopefully someone will see the value there over the festive season and thoroughly enjoy what Santa has missed.

This year I am going to open, drink and enjoy a bottle of Cantillon St Lamvinus while wrapping the presents and leave a glass of cheap sherry out for Santa.

Royal Wedding Beer - Adnams Prince's Ale 1981

2010-12-05T15:43:00.007Z

Cracked open the first of my collection of 1981 Royal Weding ales today, Adnam's Prince's Ale described as a strong ale brewed to celebrate the royal wedding 29 July 1981.

Served in a 275ml brown bottle with foil top. The beer poured completely flat but perfectly clear. It was a beautiful red colour reminiscent of Broadside or Tally Ho. The aroma was encouraging for such an old beer and gave off good fruity esters of fig and raisins with a sherry-like character. The taste was let down a bit by being completely lacking in condition but it was identifiable as a strong beer and was definitely still drinkable. There was of course some stale cardboard oxidisation but on balance this was an enjoyable beer and I finished the whole bottle.

Although they would probably say otherwise due to their modern brewery and green credentials, but Adnams has not changed much in the last thirty years.

The 1981 Good Beer Guide says "all 75 tied houses serve real ale, also widely available in the free trade".

Adnams were and have remained one of the country's best family brewers and I raise a glass to them, their beers, longevity and consistency.

Royal Wedding Beers

2010-11-23T12:45:00.016Z

The summer of 1981 was a big one for me. I was a 19 year old, fledgling beer drinker having matured from keg beers such as Ben Truman (you couldn't taste the hops) and Watney's Special (an oxymoron if ever there was one) onto Young's and Fuller's, great tasting real ales.

I had also just started my first job as a trainee accountant and I had sixty pounds a week (less tax) burning a hole in my pocket (context : beer was about 40p a pint). That summer also brought us a massive royal event, the wedding of Charles and Diana, a match supposedly made in heaven.

In 1977 a few breweries had made special beers to celebrate the Queen's silver jubilee. They were very popular and remarkably collectible with some rarer bottles changing hands for great sums. By 1981 everyone had climbed aboard and about 150 breweries brought out celebration wedding beers, distributed them in great numbers and though many were collected, they never really had the same scarcity or collectible value and even now only fetch about a pound a bottle.

I succumbed to the very English hobby of collecting and in a four to six week period in the lead up to July 1981 I collected over thirty of the special beers but was nowhere near finding a complete set and, once the wedding had come and gone, I had moved onto QPR programmes and the beers were stuck in a cupboard forever.

Last week we heard the announcement that the offspring of that coupling had announced his own nuptials and to mark that event I have decided to open all of my Royal Wedding beers in the lead up to William and Kate's wedding next April and talk about them each week on this blog.

There is, of course, a great difference between aged beers and old beers and I don't expect many of them (if any) to taste any good. Although some are quite strong, bottle conditioning was rare in those days and they would all have been brewery conditioned and mostly pasteurised. They have all seen enough light over decades to spoil each beer ten times over.

What will hopefully be more interesting though is that each bottle, or more specifically each brewery, will have its own story of the last thirty years.

From those companies that have grown most in that period, Marston's and Greene King, through those that they swallowed up such as Jennings, Ringwood, Belhaven and Morland to some hardy family independents like Hall/Woodhouse, Adnams and Fullers to some that disappeared completely as the industry consolidated such as Bruce's Brewery and Godson's, good London micros of their time.

As the wedding approaches on 29 April I am also hoping to find some new beers brewed for the occasion and this time I will be drinking and enjoying them rather than saving for posterity.

My wife will also be most delighted to get one of her cupboards back after all this time.

World's Best Beers

2010-11-18T12:39:00.010Z

One of my failings as a beer blogger is that I sometimes enjoy someone else's hospitality and then fail to tell them or tell the wider blog world how much I enjoyed it. It then nags and nags my conscience like a stone in my shoe. I am about to remove one of those stones.

Ages and ages ago I took my fill of beer at the launch of World's Best Beers by Ben McFarland. I then gratefully received a review copy of the book some weeks later. I am embarrassed to say that this was over a year ago.

I haven't been totally remiss though. About three months ago I wrote a long piece praising this book, edited and tweaked the copy, then with a click of the mouse it was gone - into the ether never to reappear. Fat finger syndrome that also is the curse of my Twitter account !

It is my honest opinion that this remains the best book of this style published recently. Although it is another compilation of 1,000 of the world's best beers populated with colour photographs and tasting notes, it is very much more than that.

The opening pages include a comprehensive guide to ingredients including an excellent section on hops (hip hops ?). The next section on beer styles strays away from the boring tried and tested and includes styles such as Vintage Ales, seeking to explain the recent trend in aged and collectible beers.

The beers are the main course and are split by country, from Britain and Ireland, through Europe to America(s), Australasia, Africa and the Middle East.

Breaking up the 1,000 beer tasting notes and descriptions there are other sections telling the stories of breweries such as Fullers, Thornbridge, Cantillon, Mikkeller etc, all written in an entertaining style that makes the book an enjoyable read rather than a reference or coffee table volume.

(Watch out for the story of coffee beans passed through the digestive tract of an Indonesian weasel before being used in the brew of the legendary Beer Geek Breakfast).

Finally it is the final section on Beer and Food that made this a prize winner at last years Guild of Beer Writers awards. The section includes a concise guide to beer and food matching and then goes onto suggest beers that work well with seafood, meat, chicken, cheese, desserts and spicy food and includes guest appearances from Rick Stein and Garrett Oliver, a genius who has achieved most in the realm of beer and food matching.

So there you have it, not a particularly lucid book review but an honest one and at least part of my conscience is satisfied.

It is my honest opinion that this is one of the best, most readable, beer books published in recent years and I give it my hearty recommendation.

Cover price is £25 but you should find it on Amazon for less than £15.

The Passion of Thornbridge

2010-11-08T12:00:00.001Z

There is a general love-in in blogworld today for Kelly Ryan of Thornbridge Brewery who has made the decision to return down-under to his homeland, New Zealand. The respect that the beer blogging world has for Kelly and his efforts to bring us good tasty beer as well as his clear passion, knowledge and skill is immense and he truly deserves this slap on the back to say farewell.

The inspiration for this post came from Jeff Cioletti, the editor of Beverage World magazine and the full editorial of the July edition can be seen here. I am just going to lift a few passages to illustrate the point that one of the unique selling points of craft and cask ale is its passion.

Jeff writes : "You don't need me to reiterate the obvious: craft beer's volume and dollar gains as the rest of the beer market declines, evolving consumer tastes, affordable luxury, etc. That's not news .......

What I believe is under-reported is the emotional component, the passion.

Craft beers don’t have consumers, they have fans. That’s one of their key distinguishing factors...... And they can be quite the passionate lot.

The passion of its fan-base is one of the visible elements that's been putting wind in craft beer’s sails (and sales), but it's actually rooted in the passion of the people behind the brands, many of whom left other stable careers to do what they truly love. And the fans feed off of that.

In this new era of engagement, consumers are looking for brands that are not only about the finished product, but the types of people behind it. Increasingly they don't want to buy from companies that see the product as just another widget or something that was created to fulfill someone's MBA requirements.

They want to put their hearts and souls behind brands created by individuals who put their own hearts and souls into, whether it's a craft beer, an organic ready-to-drink tea, an artisanal soda with its own unique story or what have you.

Passion begets passion and is the key ingredient in converting consumers to fans."

Kelly, you have played a major part in converting consumers of Thornbridge beers into fans. We have enjoyed your company, your enthusiasm, your knowledge and most of all your beers. We wish you well in the future and very much hope to get to try the juices of your heart, soul and passion in the future. Cheers !

Egham United Services Beer Festival

2010-11-04T08:55:00.002Z

Just a quick and lazy reminder that this event is on again this week - definitely recommend a visit. In particular I will be seeking out the very last drop of the London Brewers Allaince Collaboration Porter which has hopefully developed nicely over the last month or so.
_________________

Just a reminder that our next Egham Beer Festival will be open all day Thursday 4th thru Sunday 7th November (opens at 11am daily).

As before approx 50 beers with the emphasis on new breweries and new beers. Since the number of handpumps on the club bar were increased from 5 to 8 we’ll now be able to offer 36 beers at any one time!!!

There’ll also be some festival specials such as Ascot Chambord Imperial Stout and a special version of Havant Unwrapped plus 2 new beers from our local hobby brewer Blackaddler.

Some of the new brewers will be on hand for informal ‘meet the brewer’ sessions.

Prices will be keen as always.

For those who like some music with their beer we’ve booked Papa George for Friday evening.

www.eghambeerfestival.co.uk
www.eusc.co.uk
_______________

Brainwave - Beer Tasting

2010-11-04T08:20:00.007Z

I am more than happy to give a shout-out for anything that is beer related but I am delighted to be able to promote the following event as it also has an angle that can help others.

The children’s charity, Brainwave, is arranging an exclusive beer tasting at the Farmers’ Club on 30 November, where people can find out a little more about the complex world of beer, where the flavours come from and a little on the history of beer.

So not only can you have an entertaining and different evening and help a charity too.

The Farmers’ Club was founded in 1842 and is a private members' club not usually open to the public. The address is 3 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EL; nearest tube: Embankment.

The tasting is being undertaken by Christine Cryne, who chaired CAMRA’s 2010 Champion of Britain and is a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers. (Christine also happens to be the charity's Chief Executive).

Tickets are £28, including a buffet. The doors open from 6pm with an introductory drink with the tasting starting at 6.30pm.

The event is being supported by Greene King and Fuller’s breweries and will feature their beers plus others from small craft breweries from around the country.

Tickets are available from Isobel Kerry: isobelkerry@brainwave.org.uk; 07872 548 450 or download an application form from www.brainwave.org.uk

I guess this is more of a general interest event rather than a tasting for the hard-core beer-geek. If you belong to the latter crowd, why not just bung them the price of a pint here.

Take a look also at this inspiring video at http://uk.youtube.com/BrainwaveCentre

Honey, I've Drunk the Beers

2010-11-01T12:16:00.004Z

I think I used that header last year but you must forgive me as I have been laid low with man-flu for what seems like weeks. I am now self medicating on fine ales and am hoping that a visit to the Dark Star showcase at the Cask, Pimlico tonight will help me shake off the lurgy completely.

Back to last week when myself and two other hardy souls headed off to the National Honey Show in Weybridge to judge the honey beer category in their annual competition.

As you can see this was serious stuff and we made sure we looked the part among all of the other honey judges who were shining the lights into the jars and dipping in their tasting sticks. We joined in by sniffing, swirling and tasting the range of beers brewed with honey.

The winning beer was Fullers Organic Honey Dew. In the previous year this beer was a big disappointment with very little honey character and a slightly dirty aroma.

This year it was much improved and walked off with the gold medal for its delicate honey aroma backed up with a taste that had a perfect balance of honey and malt sweetness combined with a very low bitterness making it a very tasty beer.

Our runner up was Lovibond Wheat Wine. A completely different style of beer and very difficult to judge alongside the Fullers Honey Dew. This is a 7.3% wheat (like barley) wine brewed with a large amount of local honey to balance the use of wheat and create a beautifully tasting beer balancing the sweet honey with the complex spicy esters developed by using wheat and brewing out to over 7%.

It was a close run thing but the drinkability of the Fullers Honey Dew and the more obvious use of honey on the label gave Fullers the edge.

Another fun morning in good company in the interest of good beer. The other judges were John Porter (left) and Tim Hampson (right).

Tafarnau Treftadaeth

2010-10-13T09:06:00.000+01:00

Another book published this summer by CAMRA books was Real Heritage Pubs of Wales or in the native language Tafarnau Treftadaeth.

Described in CAMRA's press release as follows :

An invaluable guide to over 100 pubs in Wales with historic interiors of real national significance, some of them stretching back a century or more, collected together for the first time in this book. The product of many years of surveying by volunteer members of CAMRA who are dedicated to preserving and protecting the UK’s historic pub interiors.

Living in London, the best way to visit historic pubs is on foot. Alas in Wales the pubs are spread far and wide across the principality.

This book is the best alternative to actually visiting the pubs. It is crammed with colour photos and Mick Slaughter really should get some sort of award for his work on building a permanent historic photographic record of Britain's historic pubs.

A slim paperback with 114 pages but priced accordingly with cover price of £6.99.

Good Beer Guide 2011

2010-10-04T17:26:00.007+01:00

CAMRA books have been busy again this summer. The most recent offering is the latest edition of the Good Beer Guide, for so long the CAMRA members' bible.

This year's book (or should that be NEXT year's book ?)is another monster. 888 pages, 4,500 pub entries and almost 800 breweries including 88 opened in the last year.

This year's book also finds space to include the sixteen regional pubs of the year and also includes the details of each of the CAMRA branch pubs of the year. There are also the names of all of the finalists in this years Champion Beer of Britain competition.

This is the 38th edition and I buy a copy each year to maintain my collection. I think it is by admission out-of-date the day it is published given the fast moving pub scene - new ones open and sometimes even good pubs close. However, I trust the selection process and its coverage nationwide is complete. It cannot include every good pub but I think it is the best guide available to give you a pointer to good pubs across the country.

The cover price is £15.99, but my copy through the CAMRA direct debit scheme was £10

I was also lucky enough to receive a review copy from my friends at CAMRA HQ though that copy is already falling apart at the seams - a slight problem with the binding.

If it is in danger of being left behind by electronic guides and social media sites it is doing its best to keep up with Sat-Nav and mobile phone versions for an extra fiver - very useful for finding pubs in country lanes.

The spine has a quote from the Independent : "indispensable" - for all of it's misgivings I still tend to agree.

London Brewers Alliance - Video

2010-09-30T09:51:00.005+01:00

As part of the recent London Brewers Alliance Showcase, a short video was filmed to add something different to the event. Although it was streamed throughout that evening and has been plugged on various websites since, there is a chance that one or two have not had a chance to see it.

It is my opinion that this adds a huge amount to the character of the London brewing scene by building up the various personalities involved. It helps get behind the pumpclip and builds an empathy with the hard working brewer. It also helps show the diversity that we now have in London, large and small, central and rural, brewpub and micro, keg, bottle and cask.

I think this video is another step towards rebuilding a following behind London's beers and it is well worth taking ten minutes to watch it.

Don't buy an ipad, it keeps you out of the pub

2010-09-29T09:13:00.012+01:00

Over the next day or two, I am hoping to bring this blog up to date with everything I have made a note of in recent weeks. Nothing particularly enthralling, just a collection of random posts to remove them from the to-do list.

As I am writing two blogs, this one and the London Ale Taster, I recently bought an Ipad as I thought it would make blogging more efficient. Wrong ! A great piece of kit, though it is, I now lay in bed most of the time, checking email, following my Twitter and Facebook streams and playing stupid, STUPID games. A real virtual (beer) lifestyle.

But it's worse than that. My beer stock at home is generally for emergencies. A collection of stuff that has crossed my path over the last year or two, bottles picked up on my travels, real and virtual. Given my liking for real ale in the pub, it is for occasional use only or to share with the once-in-a-blue-moon visitor.

I haven't been to the pub for a week and I have moved the beer to the bedroom for better access. My new lifestyle means that my stocks are getting depleted.

I topped stocks up with the latest offering from MyBreweryTap.com - a 52 week US beer club (they send 13 bottles every quarter) but the first beers were so good they lasted about a fortnight - perhaps I needed a 365 day beer club.

I also missed the launch of the Cask Ale Report on Monday, having been ever present previously, (I didn't actually have an invite this year but that hasn't stopped me in the past). There is more good news here and the report as usual makes interesting reading. Check out author, Pete Brown's summary on his blog here.

Am I getting past it, is my work here done ? One would hope not but I need a pick-me-up to get me back to the keyboard.

In the coming days I am shaking off the sluggish manner and getting back to it. I can't promise there will be anything interesting to read here, just that there will be something to read.

I am also keen to get back to the pub and have the Sultan beer festival on my radar (held on Friday and Saturday) coupled with a visit to the Trafalgar in the same vicinity, South Wimbledon.

Cheers all.

London Brewers Alliance Showcase

2010-09-22T11:08:00.009+01:00

As promised, the London Brewers Alliance Showcase was held last week and enjoyed by all of the three hundred or so visitors.

I had been asked by the editor of London Drinker magazine to write a piece for the next magazine but the deadline was on the next morning. And so it was with heavy head that I dragged myself to my pc that day having thoroughly enjoyed all of the beers from the London Brewers; the Collaboration Porter, the Kernel Citra IPA and the cask strength Fullers Brewers Reserve being among the highlights for me.

I thought that writing at such a late deadline I would be among the first to share my views of the evening. Wrong of course. The internet was alive the very next day with Blogville taking full advantage of the immediacy of the platform. I think the Twittersphere was buzzing throughout the event but was still humming for days afterwards.

Thus you will still have to wait for a week or so to see the London Drinker article. In the meantime there are plenty who have described the evening more fully and eloquently than I could have

Take a look at Pencil and Spoon, Londoneer, Boggle, Beermerchants, BikesforBeer and BeerViking

You can also find them all in one place on the Facebook link I have inserted alongside.

I would be wrong to claim that I helped organise the event but I was on hand helping out on the day and am fully supporting the London Brewers in their efforts.

One area of query I have is that there have been absolutely no negative comments, not one. In my experience of CAMRA and pub festivals there are normally a few moans and groans and it is important to hear those in order to make future events bigger and better.

If anyone does have anything they wish to raise about the London Brewers Alliance Showcase please leave a comment on the blog here or email me privately to beerjusticeATaol.com and I will ensure it is passed on.

Sheffield Tap comes to London

2010-09-14T08:55:00.007+01:00

I have no idea if this is true. It is my own research, rumour, speculation and hearsay based upon an anonymous comment on my London Ale Taster Blog.

Are we about to see a bar in central London packed with beers from Thornbridge, Brewdog, Dark Star and Marble ?

The guys responsible for the Sheffield Tap are hooking up with the Bloomsbury Lanes people, a central London bowling alley, to open The Euston Tap.

This is taken from the Bloomsbury Lanes web-site :

Craft beer anyone? The Euston Tap is set to become a mecca for London’s beer drinkers

The team behind the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes and Fleet River Bakery has joined up with well the known beer aficionado Jamie Hawksworth, to open a unique craft beer house in London.

The partnership has secured the stunning Grade II listed West Lodge in Euston Square, which will feature 20 draft beers from small producers.

The Euston Tap’s objective is not about stocking the wackiest beers from around the globe nor the biggest list, but a mission to bring to London the best draught real ale and craft beer available. Not an easy task, when many of the best independent breweries on the planet don’t export or have limited output.

The bar has its own website www.eustontap.com which is thin on content at the moment but it is already hooked into my favourites.

Beer lovers from London have done their (tiny) bit towards making the Sheffield Tap the stunning success that it has quickly become. That effort has brought us this reward.

Opening late October - Bring it on !

Pub of the Year - SPBW

2010-09-08T11:00:00.003+01:00

The Society for the Preservation of Beer from the Wood (SPBW) allows member to nominate their favorite pubs London pubs for their annual Pub of the Year competition.

Here are the 14 pubs nominated for 2010 :

Blythe Hill Tavern, Catford
Calthorpe arms, Clerkenwell
Cask Pub & Kitchen, Pimlico
Cleveland Arms, Paddington
Dog and Bell, Deptford
Eleanor Arms, Bow
Harp, Covent Garden
Hope, Carshalton
Jerusalem Tavern, Clerkenwell
Old Fountain, City Road
Royal Oak, Borough
Southampton Arms, Kentish Town
Wenlock Arms, Hoxton
Ye Olde Mitre, Holborn

Some old favourites including four past winners but six first time nominations.

As they (we ?) have such a small membership the decision making chain is much shorter than CAMRA for instance and this has the effect that pubs new to the scene or those that have improved greatly in recent months get to the top of the Pub of the Year tree much sooner.

The judging panel are on their mission and the result will be announced in the next few weeks.

Brewdog or Marble ? or Both ?

2010-09-06T11:30:00.007+01:00

Busy week this week sees a Brewdog tasting at the Rake on Tuesday at 8pm followed by a meet the Marble brewer at the Cask, Pimlico on Wednesday.

Sometimes you can't get to every event that hits your mailbox and personally I am less enthusiastic about a thimbleful of stupid percent beer poured from a stuffed animal than I am for a bar stacked with ten beers from one of the country's finest breweries.

I have always been well impressed with beers from the Marble Brewery in Manchester and I was blown away with this one last week - found in the Southampton Arms, Gospel Oak (more about this pub later).

Marble 57, so named because it is 5.7%, (or is it the brewer's fifty seventh brew ?) gave me a real Jaipur moment. Hopefully it will be available on Wednesday at the Cask.

Like hops ? Don't miss this.

Ram Rod returns to cask

2010-09-06T09:27:00.003+01:00

Wells and Youngs have announced a series of seasonal ales to join their regular portfolio of Young's, Courage and Charles Wells beers.

The first will be a welcome return in cask for Ram Rod, the bottled beer that was legendary in the Young's boozers of a bygone age. The mixture of Ram and Special marked a right of passage for any youthful Young's drinker - a light and bitter for grown ups !

Since the Young's pubs in London have gradually scrubbed up in recent years, bottles of Ram Rod have become scarce. My local refused to stock it as it attracted custom that they were trying to move on. The reason also that they turned the public bar into a Bellini Bar and the gents toilet into a "Ladies Pamper Room"

So I guess that the new cask Ram Rod will not be seen in my neck of the woods.
It should be around during September but also Wetherspoons will have it exclusively in October as part of their beer festival.

Ram Rod is described as a 5% amber beer, with a fruity, vinous and hoppy nose, packed full of flavour. It is full bodied with a fine balance between malt and hops.

I look forward to meeting this old friend again.

London Brewers Alliance Showcase

2010-09-02T08:37:00.006+01:00

Hundreds of you good people have taken a look at the photos that I took at the London brewers Brew day last week and now I assume you are interested in tasting the beer.

The London Porter that was brewed by a collaboration of London brewers has now had its final "hopping" and is ready for cask.

There are only about forty casks which will be split among the brewers so you will be very lucky if you find it on your travels.

One place you can be sure to find this one-off beer is at the London Brewers Showcase which is being held at Brew Wharf in Borough Market on 17th September.

Presented with this rare porter will be 30 or so beers from London breweries, together for the very first time at any event.

There will be a trade session from 4.30 to 6.30 and a public session from 6.30 to 10.30.

It is a one-day event and tickets are going fast so get on board before it's too late.

Further details and tickets can be found here.

The trade session is open to publicans, bars, restaurants, beer writers and bloggers who can apply for tickets here

London Brewers Brew Day in Pictures (6)

2010-08-25T14:30:00.000+01:00

Not a great photo but at least it proves that the exhaustive hop debate was not wasted. The aroma hops going in at the end of the boil
.

Coming to the end of the day now. A final wash down of the equipment.

and running off the boiled wort into fermenting vessel. Just need to add yeast now and wait.

.....to be continued.......

London Brewers Brew Day in Pictures (5)

2010-08-25T14:00:00.000+01:00

Much debate about hop varieties and when to introduce them to the copper - the others are joined by Evin O'Riordain (Kernel Brewery) [right]

It's dirty work but someone has to do it. Phil (Brew Wharf), Derek (Fullers) and Paddy (Windson & Eton) show they are not afraid to get their hands dirty as they shovel out the mash tun.

Let it not be said that I did not contribute. I tied up the bags of spent grains so that they could be transported safely to the local garden centre for compost.

London Brewers Brew Day in Pictures (4)

2010-08-25T13:30:00.000+01:00

Phil (Brew Wharf) agrees that it's all going well.

and Paddy (Windsor & Eton) agrees with Derek and Phil that it's time for some hops.

London Brewers Brew Day in Pictures (3)

2010-08-25T13:00:00.000+01:00

I include this photo solely for completeness. I have no idea what is going on. Personally I think it is an elaborate excuse as to why a pair of lady's tights were found in the brewery. Must have some basis in fact though because the boys from Fullers said that being a more traditional brewery they prefer to use stockings and suspenders.

The wort is now in the copper and a vigourous boil was needed. Perhaps not this vigourously though as the kettle was quickly bubbling over.

Derek (Fullers) says its ok though.

London Brewers Brew Day in Pictures (2)

2010-08-25T12:30:00.000+01:00

Andy (Redemption) is in charge of filling the mash tun.

Derek Prentice (Fullers) and Andy (Redemption) agree that the mash is in good shape.

It's starting to look like beer now and demands a taste of the warm, sweet wort. Derek (Fullers) gets his nose in while Brent (Meantime) and the Zero Degrees brewer (whose name I have unforgiveably forgotten) watch on and wait to give their considered opinion.

London Brewers Brew Day in Pictures (1)

2010-08-25T12:05:00.000+01:00

Phil Lowry (Brew Wharf), Andy Moffatt and Andy (surname ?) (Redemption) select the finest malts.

Tom Madeiros (Twickenham) pours the malt into the grist case.

Just time for a team photo as the mash tun fills.

London Brewers Collaborative Porter

2010-08-25T10:27:00.006+01:00

Yesterday, I spent the day in the company of the London Brewers Alliance as they brewed a special beer for their first collaborative event being held at Brew Wharf in Borough Market on 17th September. (Ticket news is coming soon on Londonbrewers.org).

10 brewers from 8 of London's breweries gathered at Redemption Brewery in Tottenham and spent the day brewing a traditional London Porter with five malts and four hops with a strength of 5.3%.

Sometimes words are too little to describe such an enjoyable day and I will post the photos here over the course of today - they tell the real story of a day of collaboration, friendship, mutual respect, ambition and a willingness to share, to teach and to learn.

One day, ten brewers, eight breweries, one beer, one city .....

Oh, and one journalist, one blogger/London Ale Taster and one CAMRA brewery liaison officer to make sure it was all done properly.

Woodies or Egham ?

2010-08-17T13:22:00.010+01:00

Choices, choices, choices. This week sees two of my favourite events that both deserve a shout-out.

Firstly Woodies in New Malden are hosting their 6th Beer Festival and Gala Weekend from Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd with 60 or so beers set up in a marquee on the field in front of the pub. Details and beer list can be found at www.woodiesfreehouse.co.uk

The highlights on the list for me include four beers from both Ascot and Brodies Breweries including Ascot Triple Trouble 7%, a Belgian style beer and Brodies Superior London Porter 7.2%.

The Egham United Services Club is having another beer festival over the same weekend, starting on Thursday 19th and running until Sunday 22nd. The details and beer list can be found at www.eghambeerfestival.co.uk

Highlights for me here are beers from the Windsor & Eton Brewery and five beers from Pitstop Brewery including Hop, the bitterest beer in the world at over 500 EBUs.

My mission is to get out to both but realistically I may have to choose one or the other.

Lagerboy at GBBF

2010-08-13T09:16:00.004+01:00

I have always been a bit coy when asked about lager at the Great British Beer Festival. Firstly I don't know much about what is on offer and secondly I don't like taking the focus away from the main issue being the real ale there.

In the last week I have overcome the first issue. After a "toys out of pram" moment in the press office, I set off to find alternative employment quickly bumping into the foreign bar manager (that's the manager of the foreign bar) and asked him if he needed help for a couple of hours. "We can always use a spare pair of hands on the German/Czech bar on a Friday night" he grinned and off I went to learn more about lagerboys (and girls) at GBBF.

It was the hardest I worked all week. With about 30 draft beers from Germany and Czech Republic on offer, I had to quickly learn the system for finding out where each one was as the customers were coming thick and fast. I know Friday is probably the busiest night but this was unrelenting. I poured beer after beer for just over two hours. Long queues of customers forming for the best that Germany and CR has to offer at £4.20 a pint or £3.50 for bottles, the preference being more for Budvar or Jever than the other fifty German regionals in the fridge. People were thirsty and we were doing our best to accommodate them as quickly as possible.

So this is where that lager-heads hang out; just as friendly as the beer tickers but probably an average of a generation younger and all happy to pay a pound a pint more than those enjoying the real ales.

A most enjoyable and eye-opening session and I had lost my Bieres Sans Frontieres virginity but I was relieved to be relieved and set off to the auction at the stage where further help was needed taking and counting the money - much more my style.

Green Man

2010-08-09T18:59:00.004+01:00

A long week at Great British Beer Festival with much to share over the coming days.

Long time readers of this blog may remember that one of the first themes I wrote about some two years ago was the current trend to modernise pub signs.

I wrote a small piece here about this sign which had appeared at the Green Man in Putney Heath.
At the time it was clear that the regular drinkers at the pub were none too impressed with this illustration of the pub's historic name and there were moves afoot to make their dissatisfaction known to the pub's owners, Young's.

I passed the pub each night last week on my ride home from the Great British Beer Festival and noticed that the old sign, the one that was in situ before the gingerbread man, had reappeared.

In my CAMRA life, I have always been a fan of local campaigning, beer drinkers making their views known. If there is little to be gained by keeping the status quo, the pub operating companies can get a little more respect by bending their views a little in the face of customer concerns.

Bravo to the beer drinkers in the Green Man for making noise and bravo to Young's for accommodating their request.

Personally I am not sure which one I prefer but that is another story.

London Ale Taster

2010-08-01T09:59:00.005+01:00

My efforts on this blog this week are going to be directed towards the Great British Beer Festival but this post is to let people know that I have also started my official duties as The London Ale Taster and have kicked off a year long walk around London's pubs which I will be blogging about at www.londonaletaster.co.uk.

I would really eppreciate it if you would take a look at the new blog and give me some direction, let me know if I am on the right track and generally support my efforts.

If you don't like it, stay tuned here, where I will be continuing with the usual news, views and general beery stuff through the coming year.

CAMRA Bans Sandals from GBBF

2010-07-30T10:00:00.004+01:00

Yes, it's true. The safety guidelines for all volunteer staff now state that "sensible" footwear must be worn on the "working floor" at all times that the festival is open to the public. Any footwear which has an open toe or high heels is unsuitable. Volunteers who present themselves wearing such footwear may not be permitted to work in these areas and may be re-deployed elsewhere.

And that does not mean redeployment to the GBBF Press Office as we have banned sandals for years - though more for PR and aesthetic reasons than health and safety.

For the avoidance of doubt, all customers ARE permitted to wear their sandals and high heels. Socks, shorts, fleeces, anoraks, beery T-shirts, silly hats, panda-pop bottles, beards and bellies are also most welcome.

Great British Beer Festival

2010-07-20T15:28:00.013+01:00

The Great British Beer Festival will be held as usual at Earls Court in the first week of August, opening with a trade session at noon on Tuesday 3rd August, and open to the public from 5pm, then every day from noon (11am Sat) until close at 7pm on Saturday 7th.

GBBF website is here

On-line tickets are available here

Foreign beer lists are here

British real ales are here

Trade session tickets are available here

A Girls Guide to Beer tickets are here

A very good preview printed in last week's Publican is here

I will be there all week helping out in the Press and Publicity Office. If anyone needs any information or help just drop me a line - beerjustice at aol.com - or Twitter @beerjustice or @gbbf

Real Ale in Ambridge

2010-07-19T08:45:00.004+01:00

There are many lengths that I will go to to bring news and recommendations to this blog. However, a step too far is to tune in to the Archers on Radio 4.

I understand that there is a real ale storyline running presently in the radio soap but you will have to follow it up yourselves on BBC's iplayer or wait for one of the northern folk to post it on their blog.

Nicholson's Pubs

2010-07-16T09:09:00.004+01:00

One chain of London pubs that has improved in leaps and bounds in recent years is Nicholson's, part of the M&B empire. They have always owned some (most ?) of the most historic pubs in London but traditionally had a reputation as tourist traps with warm, badly kept beer served by inexperienced staff at high prices.

Well, someone is now doing the right thing with these great pubs. A few years ago a decision was made to make these pubs a haven for fine ale. Firstly the quality improved, the staff were all made to be trained by leading brewers, cellar to bar fittings were updated, the beer was given a major focus so throughput increased and some old hardy favourites such as London Pride and Timothy Taylor Landlord were made permanent beers at very keen prices for the Capital.

More recently things have improved again. A much wider choice is now available in many of the pubs and those in charge are obviously right on the button as far as consumer choice is concerned.

Lately, beer lists of the Summer Ale List have appeared outside the pubs with the pub's current offerings ticked on the list. Passing the Princess of Wales in Villiers Street WC2 other day day, I was enticed inside by a tick in the box for Thornbridge Wild Swan. One of my current favourite beers, very pale coloured with a distinct flavoursome hop character and only 3.5% - perfect for a summer evening.

Inside, supping my fresh and cool pint, I discovered the list in booklet form. The beers for summer are listed in their categories, session ales, blondes, IPAs, dark and speciality beers and the choices include Rudgate Viking, Adnams Regatta, Morrissey Fox Aussie IPA (hope to find that one), St Austell Proper Job (another of the finest around) and Brian Turner Golden Ale, a beer created by the celebrity chef together with Thornbridge.

The wine list is in its rightful place at the rear of the booklet together with the seasonal offerings such as Pimms and Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer.

So another of my recommendations for the rest of the summer is a London Nicholson's Pub. Not only some of the finest pub architecture in the world but now some of the finest beer too. Cheers.

Slovakian Beer

2010-07-13T10:17:00.008+01:00

Not only did I fail to get my world Cup Sweepstake posting finished in time I also left it unfinished in my haste to get to some paid work yesterday. The bits I did not include are :

The local shop web-site for all things Czech and Slovak is www.halusky.co.uk

The beer Zlaty Bazant translates as Golden Pheasant - hence the bird on the can.

The beer itself is an acceptable quaffing lager. It is the first tin of beer I have drunk in this country for at least ten years. When are craft brewers here going to realise that canning is no longer a great Satan ?

On the can in large gold lettering are the number - 10%. Though the shopkeeper tried to persuade me that this is the amount of hops in the beer I knew it was a scale which measures the amount of sugar left in the fermentable wort and is an indication of strength. The Czechs/Slovaks use the Balling scale which is similar to degrees Plato and to reach the ABV you need to multiply by .4. This means a 10 per cent degrees Plato or Balling is about 4% ABV and a 12% beer is about 4.8%. In tiny print on the back of the can it suggests 4.3% ABV. The can is well packaged and eye catching. Perhaps the marketeers think that by putting 10% in large gold lettering on the front and 4.3% in tiny print at the rear it will help sell the beer - I think not.

That's it. A post of two halves and not exactly match of the day.

Bring on the footie season and come on you R's

World Cup Beer Sweepstake - Slovakia

2010-07-12T08:16:00.006+01:00

It took about half an hour of the first game against USA for England fans to realise that the tournament would end in failure. It took me slightly longer but my effort to join in the beer bloggers world cup sweepstake has also ended in failure.

Six weeks ago, beer bloggers worldwide were invited to join the sweepstake. Each blog would be given a random team from the world cup and be expected to write a blog about beer from that country. We were given plenty of time and the deadline to post the blog was the final whistle of last night's final match. I have clearly failed too.

Those who drew out teams like Honduras and North Korea were in real trouble even getting hold of some beer let alone writing about it. My team was Slovakia which being next door to Czech Republic I had thought would have a wide choice. I was mistaken but a local beer could not have been easier to find - at the end of the street in fact.

Like many newsagents, the one nearest my house has in recent years become more of a mini grocery providing emergency staples like milk and bread saving the inconvenience and time of a walk to the supermarkets. Many of these newsagents in the vicinity have taken to selling authentic Polish produce due to the opening up of Euro borders. My local has two flags on the shopfront, one for Czech Republic and one, luckily of me, for Slovakia.
It could not have been easier for me to pass by the fridge while topping up my oyster to pick up a beer or two from Slovakia and still I failed.

I was engrossed in the tournament, match by match went by without a beer. Slovakia left the tournament a day after England and still I could not be arsed to drink it. Once England had gone and that emotional connection had gone, I started to really enjoy the competition. We knew having seen the football played by Germany, Spain, Holland, Argentina and Brazil that England, like this blog, were well off the pace and not capable of winning the big prize.

And so it was left to the final, Spain v Holland and a cheeky Slovakian beer. I dropped in on the newsagent and picked up a can of Zlaty Bazant, the country's leading brand and settled down to enjoy it in front of the match intending to write about the experience after the final whistle. Well extra time came and went, the stalemate was broken by a winning goal to Spain, the presentation took a while and once I had settled down to watch the after proceedings with James Corden the moment and my deadline had passed and to bed I climbed to dream about the day that I too scored the winner in the world cup final.
So here I am, early morning, paying lip service to the competition, and writing my entry for world cup beer sweepstake. This blog will never be a prize winner. I come from a finance background, more creative accounting than creative writing but I do like to play my part and be involved.

The beer ? Well as you might expect, a light pilsner style - is there such a style ? Perhaps light lager might describe better. My beer was 10% - not by volume but on the Czech Balling scale and about 4%. I gather from Adrian Tierney Jones 1001 Beers book that the brewery also do a 12% beer at 4.8% a more traditional strength for bohemian pilsner. My beer was clearly the "vier" version and suffered with lack of body and flavour for that reason.

Make Mine a Pint @ RSC

2010-07-10T09:18:00.008+01:00

If the Great British Beer Festival is getting a bit exhausting by the time you get to Thursday check out a free lecture being hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1 0BA from 6.30 to 8.30pm on 5 August.

Paul Hughes, Director of the Institute for Brewing and Distilling will be presenting his talk titled Make Mine a Pint as he considers 10,000 years of beer evolution, from a dietary staple to a social lubricant.

Whilst the origins of beer have been lost in prehistory, one of its undoubted successes was due its reliability as a potable source of water. One highly publicised example of this was the apparent immunity of the employees of the Broad Street Brewery during the breakout of the 1854 cholera epidemic.

His presentation will review the historical development of beer, and explore the underlying features of beer production and composition that have help to make beer a safe alternative to water. Additionally, he will consider the ongoing debate concerning beer and health as beer, at least in the western world, has evolved into an elective choice for consumers.

The seminar is free though pre-booking is required at www.rsc.org/publiclectures

National Archives - Pub History Podcasts

2010-07-09T08:28:00.008+01:00

You may remember me mentioning the Pub History Society Conference that was held earlier in the year at the National Archives in Kew. I have just discovered that two of the talks given at that seminar are now available as podcasts.

You can find my original posting about the conference here.

Two of the talks : Women, Darts and the Pub in the Inter-war Period and Lost London Pubs can now be listened to through the National Archives website here.

I haven't listened to the podcasts yet but remember an excellent conference and hopefully you will find them of some interest.

Ealing Beer Festival

2010-07-07T09:05:00.015+01:00

My beery recommendation this week will take you to Walpole Park, Ealing where West Middlesex CAMRA are hosting the twenty first Ealing Beer Festival.

Over 170 cask ales will be there including plenty of fruit beers from Coach House Brewery and rare casks of Fuller's Porter and Vintage (2009). I will be seeking out the Grateful Deaf beer from Yorkshire's Elland Brewery; a true American pale ale created by Ken Fisher of the Grateful Deaf Brewing Society based in Oregon. Ken is a regular visitor to the Great British Beer Festival and I am expecting his liaison with the superb Elland brewery to be something special.

There will be the usual mix of ciders and perries for those odd-folk who prefer them (no comment from me). The foreign beer bar has been excellent in past years and I expect it to have a good range from Belgiuum, Germany and Holland including a Dutch mushroom beer for the real fun guys and the legendary Rochefort 10 from Belgium - one of the World's greatest beers.

The festival is open from Wednesday 7th July to Saturday 10th and is a short walk from Ealing Broadway station. Directions are clear on the web-site. Free entry for CAMRA members before 4pm. If it stays dry and the sun comes out, I recommend a visit - see you there perhaps.

London Pride Walk

2010-07-05T08:13:00.006+01:00

On Sunday I pitched up to help the Cancer Research UK team who organise the London Pride Walk in Chiswick each year.

The walk starts at Fuller's Brewery and follows the river as far as Chiswick Bridge to the south, crosses the river, follows the south of the river northwards to Hammersmith, over the river again and back to Fullers southbound along the north bank - are those directions clear ?

Ten kilometres, give or take, which most of the four hundred participants take as a leisurely, picturesque walk, though the more energetic run the distance to get back to Fuller's Brewery to rehydrate with London Pride and get an early go at the barbecue, raffle, cakes etc.

The really energetic take a long while to get back. Indeed some don't make it round the route at all. It is unsurprising given the quality of some of the pubs along the route that the most hardy get waylaid. The Ship in Mortlake, the White Hart and Bull's Head in Barnes, the excellent pubs on Hammersmith riverside all took in strays. Those who managed to pass all of those could not resist the Dove, one of London's famous watering holes and a refuge for Fuller's Ales to refresh on the warmest day of the year.

My part was played on the park next to the brewery, helping with supporting the admin and registration team so I did not get to see any riverside pubs. I did not go thirsty though as the clear attraction of the event for me can be supported by these photos.

This is an annual event, volunteer led by Cancer Research UK and Hammersmith Hospital with much tangible support by Richard Fuller, Fuller's Brewery and all of the Fuller's team. Everyone should show much Pride that over a million pounds has been raised over sixteen years. I will definitely flag this date earlier next year and will hopefully see more of my friends along the route.

The runners race off in a chase for a pint of London Pride